Goswami Tulasidas

[krishnaa]

As requested by Ravi, I am starting with the description of the types of poetry used in the rAmacaritamAnasa.

rAmacaritamAnasa is divided into seven kanDas, each dealing with different life stages of SrI rAmacandra's life. we can go into those details also. But in this post, I am conecentrating on the types of poetry.
The rAmacaritamAnasa consists of sections which are generally 8 lines of caupayIs and a dohA. Sometimes a cchand is added to the section, usually before the dohA. There are variations in the formats of the chhand too. Another variation of the dohA is the soratThA. The difference between the dohA and the soratThA is that the dohA rhymes at the end of the line and the soratThA rhymes in the middle of the line. I shall put a section of the rAmayaNa, this is the part where Mother sitA prays to devI after she has seen SrI rAma in her garden.

patidevatA sutIya mahu, mAtu prathama tava rekha
mahimA amita na sakaI kahI, sahasa saradA sekha
[this is a dohA]

sevata tohi sulabha phala cArI, baradAyanI purAri piyArI
devi pUji pada kamala tumhAre, sura nara muni jana hohi sukhAre
mora manoratha jAnahU nIke, basahu sadA ura pura sabahI ke
kInhehu pragaTa na kArana tehI, asa kahi carana gahe baidehI
binaya prema basa bhaYI bhavAnI, khasi mAla mUrati musukAnI
sAdara siya prasAda sira dhareU, boli gaurI haraSi hiya bhareU
sunu siya satya asIsa hamArI, pUjihi mana kAmanA tumhArI
nArada vacana sadA suci sAcA, so baru milehU jAhi mana rAcA
[these are 8 caupAyIs]

manu jAhi rAceU milihi so baru sahaja sundara sAvarO
karuNAnidhAna sujAna sIla saneha jAnata rAvarO
ehI bhAti gauri asIsa suni siya sahita hiya harasI alI
tulasI bhavAnihi pUji puni puni mudita mana mandira calI
[this is a cchanda]

jAni gauri anukUla, siya hiya harakhi na jAi kahi
manjula mangala mUla, bAma anga pharakana lage
[this is a soratThA]

This is one of my favorite sections where mother sitA gets the wonderful blessings. probably, we should put a translation... Hope this is a good start! Will put more soon. I shall look for a short life story of Goswamiji and put a translation.

[rshankar]

Krishnaa - awesome! Thank you!

Here is a link for audio versions of rAmcaritmAnas - I like both Sri Mukesh's as well as Sri Jalata's! The way Sri Mukesh sings the part from 'nAm tithi...dundhubhi bAjI' is the tune I typically associate with the caupAyi.

[smala]

clicking on the mp3 says - error file not found

[krishnaa]

I simply love Sri Mukesh's version!

Shyama, if you cant open it, I can try to upload the audios that i have of Mukesh's version.

Shall I put the translation of the lines or should we continue with Goswamiji's life?

[smala]

I simply love Sri Mukesh's version!

Shyama, if you cant open it, I can try to upload the audios that i have of Mukesh's version.

Krishnaa, thanks ! would love that.

[VK RAMAN]

The title is on Tulsidas, and let us continue that. Introduction started with description of the type of poetry which is a good way to start.

[krishnaa]

Sure VKR anna! I shall put the life of tulasidas soon!

[krishnaa]

The shortest version of Goswamiji's life story is still a long one. Hence I shall put it in parts.

Part 1:
Sri Atmarama Dube, a well-known brahmin lived in the village called Rajapur, near Prayag. His wife's name was Hulasi. In the vikram samvat 1554, in the month of SrAvaNa, during the bright fortnight, on the seventh day, Sri Tulasidas ji waas born to the fortunate couple after spending 12 months in his mother's womb. After his birth, Goswamaji did not cry, everyone around heard him recite the name "rAma". And another surprise was that he had all 32 teeth from birth. He had a wonderous personality, he appeared to be a 5-year old child. Looking at all these, the brahmin took them as inauspicious symptoms and began to imagine various negative things in his mind. The mother of the child became worried looking at the state of her husband. She feared that her child might be negatively affected physically and/or mentally. On the night of dasami, she sent away the child with her maidservant and she herself left the world the next day. The name of the maidservant was cuniyA. She protected the child and brought him up with utmost love and care. When Tulasidas ji was about 5 years of age, cuniyA also left this world. Now, the child became helpless. He started wandering around the village houses.

[krishnaa]

Part 2:
Mother Parvati felt pity at the situation of this innocent child. She assumed the form of a brahmin lady and came to feed this child everyday. Supportive to his beloved, Lord Siva approached Sri Narharyanand ji (disciple of Sri Anantanand ji) who was then living in Chitrakut. He was instructed that this child should stay under his care and was named ramabola. Sri Narharyanand ji took Ramabola to Ayodhya and did the necessary sanskaras for the child. Without being taught, Ramabola recited the gayatri mantra the first time. This event astonished everyone. After this Narahari Swami did the panca sanksaras of vaishnavas for Ramabola and continued residing in Ayodhya and teaching him. Ramabola had a very sharp brain, he would grasp each and every word that came out of his guru's mouth. After a few days, both the guru and disciple moved to Sukarakshetra. Here Sri Narharyanand ji recited the rAmayana to Ramabola and soon they went to Kashi. Hereafter Ramabola was named Tulasidas. In kashi, Tulasidas stayed in the shelter of Sri Sesasanatan and studied the vedas. The yearn for the material world arose in Tulasi das's mind and he left for his birth-place. He found out here that his family is completely finished. Accordingly he performed the last rites for his parents.

[smala]

12 months in the womb - is that for real?

[krishnaa]

Yes, according to the texts i have and also according to what we are told by our elders and people nearby his village.

[VK RAMAN]

I like your writing style in describing chronological happenings. Please continue, as soon as convenient.

[krishnaa]

Will sure do so!
I wish academics could have some gaps for us poor things..........

[smala]

Krishnaa, still waiting on a working link of Muskesh's rendition you said you could provide.

[rshankar]

Smala - see if this works: try to use the banner at the top - if you click on the 'rAmAyan' tab, in the pull-down menu a bunch of new tabs appear - click on bAl kAND and try if that will work. If that doesn't help, and you are using a mac, what happens when you ctrl+click on the link?

[smala]

ravi, Murphy's law works for me.

I get an "error 404 : file not found" when I go thru the audio link on left column and select Ramcharitramanas bAl kAND. On the banner drop down, clicking bAl kAND brings up a little stationary white window on which Ramcharitramanas bAl kANd appears. Nothing further happens - on my mac.

[Suji Ram]

ravi, Murphy's law works for me.

I get an "error 404 : file not found" when I go thru the audio link on left column and select Ramcharitramanas bAl kAND.

smala,
After several trials you get lucky. It is pretty random. I was able to get it using Mozilla FF.
I could listen to aranya kand....
Mukesh's rendition is beautiful!

[rshankar]

Smala - the problem with trying to listen on a mac is that the in-built player for those tracks doesn't exist for macs (although Mozzilla may have a plug-in). The problem is I can't tell which player it is, to see if we can d/l one for macs.

[krishnaa]

http://www.sendspace.com/filegroup/o%2F ... nKIjAnw3IQ

here is the balkand...