About Ram Charit Manas: An Exploration 

The holy book namely Ram Charit Manas written by Goswami Tulsi Das is one such book which has got the privilege to be kept in red cloths next to Bhagwat Gita. Though the Ramayan written by Valmiki is the original Ramayan and considered to be basic Ramayan which is used by other authors to write Ramayan in their own way and languages. However, all these Ramayanas are not worshipped by the Hindus as it is done for Ram Charit Manas. There are many holy books of Hindus, the number may be a few hundred including Vedas but only two books have been worshipped by the Hindus by placing them in red colour cloths. They are Gita and Ram Charit Manas.

Gita is written in Sanskrit. It is undoubtedly not only the holy book but also the greatest book on Philosophy written till date, if we consider the views of some of the great scholars on this. Ram Charit Manas is in Awadhi, the language which is spoken widely in the Awadh region of India which is now Faizabad.  There are many things in Ram Charit Manas which is direct translation of the different verses of Gita. For example a few of them is placed below:

In Geeta, Lord Krishna said

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।

अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्

परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्

धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे

The same thing is also mentioned by Tulsi Das in Ram Charit Manas as under:

जब जब होंही धरम की हानि

बाढहि असुर अधम अभिमानी

तब तब प्रभु धरी मनुज शरीरा

हरही कृपानिधि सज्जन पीरा

Another verse from Geeta

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि

Its translation in Hindi in Ram Charit Manas

कर्म प्रधान विश्व रचि राखा । जो जस करै सो तस फल चाखा 

Similarly, there is a number of such instances and similarities between these two holy books. The reason might be the fact that Goswami Tulsi Das has studied all the contemporary literature available as on date on Hindu religion and the crux of all those books, he tried to present in Ram Charit Manas. He might be motivated by the fact of producing the summary of entire literature which is in Sanskrit and not understandable to a vast majority of people in a language understandable by all and hence the benefit of all those literature should be disseminated down to the masses.

Tulsi Das started writing Ram Charit Manas at the age of 78 and completed by the age of 80. Thus, it took him two years to write this great book.

After leaving his home and family, he had studied all the contemporary literature in detail which was in Sanskrit and not understandable to a vast majority of people in India. Secondly, there was a need to compile all those literature and their wisdom in one such book so that it is easier for the people to read and understand because it was not possible for an ordinary person to go through entire literature available as on date on Hinduism. Motivated by these facts Tulsi Das might have started writing Ram Charit Manas.

Therefore, in Hindu mythology, it is also said that the “Punya” derived from reading Ram Charit Manas is equivalent to the “Punya” derived from reading all the sacred books of Hindus.