Ramacharitamanas

Śrī Rāmacaritamānas (Devanāgarī: _hi. श्री राम चरित मानस) (Hindi/ Avadhi) is an epic poem composed by the 16th-century Indian poet, Goswami Tulsidas (c.1532–1623) (also transliterated as "Tulasidasa"). An English translation of "Rāmacaritamānasa" is "The Ocean of the Deeds of Rama".As mentioned in the "IAST|Bāla Kaṇḍa" of the composition, Tulsidas started writing it in Vikram Samvat 1631 (1574 CE) in Avadhpuri, Ayodhya. It was completed in two years and seven months. A large portion of the poem was composed at Varanasi, where the poet spent most of his later life. It is considered one of the greatest works of Hindi literature.

Language

It is written in avadhi, which belongs to the Eastern Hindi language family.

tructure

The "Rāmacaritamānas" consists of seven books, of which the first two, entitled Childhood and Ayodhya, make up more than half the work. The work is composed in quatrains called "chaupais", broken by "dohas" or couplets, with an occasional "sortha" and "chhand", the latter being a hurried metre of many rhymes and alliterations.

toryline

The "Rāmacaritamānas" is a retelling of the events of the Sanskrit epic "Ramayana", concerning the exploits of Rama, prince of Ayodhya. The great poem is also called "Tulsi-krita Ramayana", or "The Ramayana of Tulsidas".

The poem revisits "Ramayana" of Valmiki, but is not a mere retelling of the Sanskrit epic. Where Valmiki has condensed the story, Tulsidas has expanded, and, conversely, wherever the elder poet has lingered longest, there his successor has condensed.

An unpublished English poetic translation of Ramacaritamanas is provided by (Late) Binda Prasad Khattri of New Market, Banda, Uttar Pradesh. Apparently, the translation can be sung essentially in the same way and with the same rythm as the original Hindi work.

ee also

* Rama
* Tulsidas

External links

* [http://www.swargarohan.org/Ramayana/Ramcharitmanas.htm Complete Ramcharitmanas text, mp3 audio, reference on character and places, Gujarati translation and Ramcharitmanas PDF for download]
* [http://www.ramcharitmanas.iitk.ac.in/ Read the complete text ]
* [http://www.webdunia.com/occasion/ramcharitamanas/ Complete text with Hindi translation for download]
* [http://www.dishant.com/album/Tulsi_Ramayan_-_Shri_Ramcharitmanas.html Listen to Ramcharitmanas]