The book that made Ram a God

There is no historical evidence that a poet named Valmiki ever existed still the Sanskrit epic Ramayan is credited to him. However it didn't ignite the imagination of Hindus. However there were umpteen number of Ram's story in different languages of India and it even travelled to South-East Asia. But it took more than two millennia before one Avadhi poet Goswami Tulsidas wrote the lyrical Ram Charitmanas and made an innocuous mythological character Ram as the most important god.

Ramcharitmanas is sung in most of the Hindu households both by men and women. It has been published Geeta Press Gorakhpue which has done the pioneering job of publishing most of the Hindu epics and other mythological books like Ganesh Mahima, Shiv Stuti, Hanuman Chalisa etc. It is considered as a living sum of Indian culture and the tallest tree in the magic of Indian medieval poetry.

A ten-day dance and drama presentation is performed all over the country ending on Dussehra when the effigies of Ravan, his brother Kumbhkaran and son Meghnad are burnt. On the flip side Sri Lankans of today don't subscribe to this story of a king Ravan of Lanka. When I visited Sri Lanka a couple of years ago, Lankans told me there is no Ravan and no Lanka. We are Sri Lankans. Also known as Ceylon. Though many Ram temples have come up in Sri Lanka to attract Indian tourists. But that is marketing an epic.

This 975-page massive book has 224 chapters divided in seven parts called kands. Tulsidas started writing in 1574 A.D and finished it in two years, seven months and 26 days sitting at Assai ghar on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi. It has around 6000 odd couplets competing with each other. It tells Ram's life story from birth till he return to his kingdom Ayodhya after a 14-year exile  forced on him by his step-mother Kekeyi through her husband and the late father King Dashrath. Unlike Valmiki's Ramayan , the story doesn't travel to Ram taking over as king and banishing his wife Sita to exile because a  (dhobi)washer man had taunted his wife that he couldn't accept her after her escapade for a night like Ram accepted his wife Sita after her abduction by Ravan.

The beauty of the book lies in its lyricism..

Ragukul reeti sada chali aayee,

pran jaaye par vachan na jayee.

It has been the tradition with the king Raghu's clan that they would lay down they would lay down their life but won't back out from their word.

It is debatable why Valmiki's Ramayan did not become as popular as Ramcharitmanas. It can be said that Valmiki was a critical poet and he treated Ram as a character full of virtues and shortcomings for example the way he killed monkey king Bali and took the help of Vibhishan to kill Ravan. Not only this he has been criticized for the unfair treatment meted out to his wife Sita who was a devoted wife. It was no fault of her that she was confined in Ashok Vatika by Ravan. But Ram asked her to undergo a trial by fire to prove her chastity. Sita felt crest fallen but accepted it as her fate. Not only this when people of Ayodhya started a whispering campaign that Ram accepted a wife who had lived in the custody of another man. What kind of an example he was setting. When this campaign Ram, he asked his brother Lakshman to take her to jungle. Lastly, when Love and Kush, her son met their father and Sita met Ram again, she was once again asked to prove her purity. At this Sita committed suicide by asking her mother earth from where she was born to call her back. And in a way she committed suicide. Tulsidas didn't elaborate on these aspects of Ram's character but Valmiki did. That is the difference between the two approaches.

Come what may, Tulsidas sang his song in praise of Ram's character in such a way that people of India accepted Ram as a king who lived by his principles. That is why he is called Maryada Purushottam ( The ideal example of one who lived by his values).

The writes of these lines still his father singing Ram Charitmanas couplets called chopais by swinging in his sitting posture every evening. He had no doubt about Ram's character and did his prayers with total commitment. There are millions who continue to do this every day till date.

Muhammad is the most preferred name adopted by the Muslims and Ram gives it a tough competition among the  Hindus. Though Muhammad is a global phenomenon but Ram is an Indian entity.