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'Śrī Rāmacaritamānas' (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 ''Bāla Kaṇḍa'' of the composition, Tulsidas started writing it in Vikram Samvat 1631 (1574 AD) 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.

Contents

Language

Structure

Storyline

Language

It is written in Awadhi (Baiswari), which belongs to the Eastern Hindi language family.

Structure

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 stanzas called ''chaupais'', broken by ''dohas'' or couplets, with an occasional ''sortha'' and ''chhand'', the latter being a hurried metre of many rhymes and alliterations.

Storyline

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.