Perhaps the most famous Hindu story ever, the Ramayana (YES, the one that influenced STAR WARS), was originally written in Sanskrit by the poet Valmiki. In the 16th century, Goswami Tulsidas translated it into the Ramayan in a dialect of Hindi so the masses could understand it. He called it Ramcharitmanas (meaning Lake of the Deeds of Rama). And here we are in the famous temple made on the same spot where Tulsidas did his work.
The Life of Tulsidas itself is a crazy story. His mother didn’t give birth to him until after 12 months instead of 9 and he was born with a full set of teeth. This freaked out his parents, and it didn’t help that he was born during an astrological bad luck-omen time …. so his parents abandoned him. He was adopted by a monk and eventually grew to be a respected holy man himself.
As legend goes, Emperor Akbar summoned Tulsidas on hearing a story that he brought a dead man back to life. Tulsidas declined to go because he was too busy writing. He eventually told the Emperor “all I know is Rama.” Something you probably shouldn’t tell a Muslim ruler. So the emperor imprisoned Tulsidas at Fatehpur Sikri. Tulsidas refused to bow to Akbar and wrote the ultra famous and amazing song Hanuman Chalisa and chanted it for forty days – All of a sudden an army of monkeys descended upon the town and wreaked havoc in all corners of Fatehpur Sikri entering each home and the emperor’s harem, scratching people and throwing bricks. Never mess with a Hindu.
P.S. for those that are interested: Tulsidas also managed to merge both Jnani and Bhakti paths to liberation, although it seems he leans towards being pro Bhakti – very similar to Ramakrishna (give or take some trivial variables) . Both also died of horrible diseases 🙁 Both had IMMENSE impact on religious culture as it is today.
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Host of the TV Show Rock Star Recipes and the 1st Indian-American to walk the Latin Grammy Red Carpet, Anand Bhatt brings us the inside scoop & behind-the-scenes on Everything from Kitchen and Fitness Hacks, who's wearing what, the latest fashion and beauty trends, Inspiration on how celebs keep it together under stress, and more! Read on and live your best life!
