Introduction

The Ramcharitmanas holds a place in world literature that belongs to it alone. There may not exist another work in Hindi, or perhaps in any language, that so completely unites the highest standards of poetry with the deepest teachings of life: ideal family bonds, ideal governance, ideal devotion between spouses, ideal love between brothers, alongside the supreme truths of bhakti, knowledge, renunciation, and right conduct.

It expresses the divine play of God in human form, His qualities, His mystery, and the profound essence of His love, all in language that is at once simple, captivating, and powerful. This is why the Ramcharitmanas is read with equal ardor by rich and poor, educated and unlettered, householders and monks, men and women, young and old. No other text has spread devotion, wisdom, moral living, and righteous conduct among the people as this one has.

That a work so universally honored should inspire hundreds of editions and hundreds of commentaries is only natural. The Gita Press library alone holds hundreds of Ramayana-related works in various languages. By now, lakhs of copies must have been printed.

Beyond its literary greatness, the Ramcharitmanas is a text of blessing. The faithful receive every verse as a mantra. Through its recitation, both worldly and spiritual aims are fulfilled. When one reads it with faith, reflects deeply on its teachings, lives by them, and contemplates the sweet divine play described within it, the supreme goal of liberation and, beyond even that, the attainment of divine love become genuinely accessible.

In our present age, when the world is engulfed in suffering and unrest, when conflict rages in every corner and the powers of science are turned toward destruction, the reading and contemplation of the Ramcharitmanas is more urgently needed than ever. For the spread of peace, love, and the experience of God's grace in daily life, this text is supremely relevant.

It is with this vision that Gita Press has been publishing various editions of the Manas, just as it has with the Gita: affordable, illustrated, authentic, and annotated. I beg forgiveness from the learned for any errors in text or meaning, and humbly offer this work, which belongs to the Lord, back to the Lord.

In the village of Rajapur, in the Banda district near Prayag, there lived a respected Saryuparin Brahmin named Atmaram Dube. His wife's name was Hulsi. On the seventh day of the bright half of Shravan, in Samvat 1554, under the Abhukta Mool constellation, their extraordinary son was born after twelve months in the womb.

The newborn did not cry. Instead, the word “Ram” emerged from his mouth. He had a full set of thirty-two teeth, and his frame was that of a five-year-old child. His father, seeing these supernatural signs, was gripped by fear of ill omen. His mother Hulsi, equally alarmed, sent the infant away on the tenth night with her maid to the maid's in-laws' home. The very next day, Hulsi departed this world.

The maid, whose name was Chuniya, raised the boy with great love. But when Tulsidas was about five and a half, Chuniya too passed away. The child was now utterly alone, wandering from door to door.

It was then that Jagadjanani Parvati, the Mother of the World, took pity on the gifted boy. Disguised as a Brahmin woman, She came to him every day and fed him with Her own hands. Meanwhile, through the inspiration of Lord Shiva, a saint named Narharyanand, a beloved disciple of Shri Anantanand who lived on Ramahill, found the child and named him Rambola. He took the boy to Ayodhya, where on Magh Shukla Panchami of Samvat 1561, his sacred thread ceremony was performed. Without any teaching, the child recited the Gayatri Mantra, astonishing all who were present.

Narhari Swami then gave young Rambola the five Vaishnava sacraments and initiated him with the Ram Mantra. He began educating the boy in Ayodhya itself. The child's intellect was remarkably sharp: whatever he heard once from his guru's lips, he committed to memory. After some time, guru and disciple traveled to Sukar Kshetra (Soron), where Narhari told him the story of Ram. They then moved to Kashi, where Tulsidas studied the Vedas under Shesh Sanatanaji for fifteen years.

In Samvat 1583, he married a beautiful young woman of the Bharadwaj lineage. One day, his wife went to her parents' home with her brother. Tulsidas followed her there. She rebuked him sharply:

“If even half the attachment you have for this body of flesh and bone were directed toward God, your boat would have crossed the ocean of worldly existence long ago.”

These words struck Tulsidas like a thunderbolt. He did not linger for a single moment. He left at once, went to Prayag, abandoned the garb of a householder, and took the robes of a renunciant. Wandering on pilgrimage, he came to Kashi and, near Mansarovar, had a vision of Kakabhushundi.

In Kashi, Tulsidas began narrating the story of Ram to the people. One day a ghost appeared to him and revealed the whereabouts of Hanuman. Upon meeting Hanuman, Tulsidas begged him for a vision of Shri Raghunath. Hanuman replied: “You will see Raghunath at Chitrakut.” Tulsidas set out immediately.

At Chitrakut, he took up his seat at Ramghat. One day, while performing pradakshina, he saw two exceptionally beautiful princes riding on horseback, carrying bows and arrows. Tulsidas was captivated by their beauty but did not recognize them. Hanuman came afterward and told him the truth. Tulsidas was consumed with remorse. Hanuman consoled him: “Tomorrow morning, they will come again.”

On the Mauni Amavasya of Samvat 1607, a Wednesday, Lord Shri Ram appeared before him once more, this time as a child. “Baba,” the child said, “give me some sandalwood paste.” Hanuman, fearing Tulsidas might fail to recognize the Lord again, took the form of a parrot and sang:

At the ghats of Chitrakut, saints have gathered in great numbers. Tulsidas grinds the sandalwood, and Raghubir Himself applies the tilak.

Gazing upon that divine vision, Tulsidas lost all awareness of his body. The Lord took the sandalwood paste and with His own hand applied it to His own forehead and to Tulsidas's, then vanished.

In Samvat 1628, on Hanuman's command, Tulsidas headed toward Ayodhya. He stopped at Prayag during the Magh Mela, staying at a Brahmin's home. There, the power of poetry awakened within him and he began composing verses in Sanskrit. But everything he wrote during the day disappeared by nightfall. This went on for eight days. Then the Lord appeared in a dream and commanded him: “Compose in your own language.” At that moment, Shiva and Parvati manifested before him. Tulsidas prostrated himself. Shiva said:

“Go and live in Ayodhya, and compose your poetry in Hindi. By my blessing, your work will bear fruit like the Sama Veda.”

In Samvat 1631, on the day of Ramnavami, when the celestial alignment was nearly identical to the one present at Ram's birth in the Treta Yuga, Shri Tulsidas began composing the Ramcharitmanas at dawn. The work was completed in two years, seven months, and twenty-six days. On the day of Ram Vivah, in the bright half of Margashirsha, Samvat 1633, all seven kandas were finished.

He then went to Kashi and recited the entire Ramcharitmanas before Lord Vishwanath and Mata Annapurna. The book was placed inside the Vishwanath temple overnight. When the doors were opened the next morning, the words “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” were found inscribed upon it in Shiva's own hand. Those present heard the words spoken aloud in the air.

The pandits of Kashi, seized by jealousy, sent two thieves to steal the manuscript. But the thieves found two warriors, one dark and one fair, standing guard around Tulsidas's hut with bows drawn. So beautiful were these guardians that the thieves were transformed on the spot. They renounced theft forever and took up devotion.

Tulsidas, grieved that the Lord had been troubled on his account, gave away all his possessions and placed the manuscript with his friend Todarmal. He prepared a second copy, and from it, further copies were made. The text spread rapidly.

The great scholar Madhusudana Saraswati, upon reading the text, wrote this tribute in Sanskrit:

“In this Anandavana of Kashi, Tulsidas is a living tulsi plant. The blossom of his poetry is exquisite, and upon it the bee of Shri Ram forever hovers.”

Still the pandits were not satisfied. They devised one final test. In the Vishwanath temple, the Vedas were placed at the top, the Shastras below them, the Puranas below those, and the Ramcharitmanas at the very bottom. The temple doors were sealed for the night. When the doors opened at dawn, the Ramcharitmanas lay on top of the Vedas. The pandits, deeply ashamed, begged Tulsidas's forgiveness and reverently took the water that had touched his feet.

In his later years at Assi Ghat, Kaliyug itself appeared before Tulsidas in bodily form and began tormenting him. On Hanuman's counsel, he composed the Vinay Patrika and offered it at the Lord's feet. Shri Ram placed His signature upon it, and Tulsidas was freed from all fear.

On the third day of the dark half of Shravan, Samvat 1680, a Saturday, at Assi Ghat in Kashi, Goswami Tulsidas departed this world, his last words upon his lips: “Ram, Ram.”

The Gita Press tradition prescribes a brief ceremony of invocation before beginning a formal reading of the Ramcharitmanas. The reader invokes, in turn, Tulsidas, Valmiki, Lord Shiva, and Hanuman, then invokes Lord Sita-Ram with His three brothers through the Shodashopachara Puja (worship with sixteen offerings) and meditation. Only then does the reading begin.

For those undertaking a complete recitation, two traditional schedules are prescribed. The Navaha Parayana divides the entire text across nine days, with designated rest points at the end of each session. The Masa Parayana spreads the reading across thirty days, one month of daily reading, with thirty rest points marking each day's portion.

The recitation procedure includes Karanyasa (a meditative practice of touching the fingers while reciting selected lines from the Manas),Anganyasa (touching various parts of the body with sacred verses), and a formal Achaman (sipping of sanctified water) invoking “Shri Sita-Ramabhyam Namah.”

However elaborate or simple the approach, the essential requirement is the same: read with faith, with love, and with the intention of drawing closer to what the text reveals. Tulsidas composed the Manas not for scholars alone but for every soul seeking refuge in the name and story of Ram. Whether you read a single doha each morning or undertake a complete nine-day recitation, the Manas meets you where you are.