Tulsīdās

Tulsīdās (Gosvāmī Tulsīdās) was the most influential poet of North Indian Rāma-bhakti. Traditionally born in the Rajapur/Banda area of what is now Uttar Pradesh, he became a devotee of Rāma and composed, in vernacular Awadhi rather than Sanskrit, the 'Rāmcaritmānas' ('Lake of the Deeds of Rāma'), a retelling of Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa suffused with devotional theology, which became — and remains — perhaps the single most beloved religious text of the Hindi belt, recited and dramatized (the Rāmlīlā) across the region. He wrote other major works as well (the 'Vinaya-patrikā,' the 'Hanumān Cālīsā' is traditionally attributed to him), and lived most of his life at Varanasi, where he died (traditionally 1623). His birthplace and early dates are uncertain and disputed; the literary achievement and his association with Varanasi are secure.