Rama

===''Ramacharitmanas''===
[[File:Tulsidas composing his famous Avadhi Ramcharitmanas.jpg|thumb|Tulsidas hints at several places in his works, that he had met face to face with Hanuman and Rama.<ref name="ralhan-quest2">Ralhan 1997, pp. 194–197.</ref><ref>Pradas 2008, p. 878, quoting J. L. Brockington: ... for in his more personal ''Vinayapatrika'' Tulasi alludes to having visions of Rama.</ref> The detailed account of his meetings with Hanuman and Rama are given in the ''Bhaktirasbodhini'' of Priyadas.<ref name="lutgendorf-darshan2">Lutgendorf 1991, pp. 49–50.</ref>]]
The ''Ramayana'' is a Sanskrit text, while ''[[Ramcharitmanas|Ramacharitamanasa]]'' retells the ''Ramayana'' in [[Awadhi language|Awadhi]],<ref name="britramcharit" /> commonly understood in [[North India|northern India]] by speakers of the several [[Hindi languages]].{{sfn| Lutgendorf|1991}}<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|2008|p=217}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Varma|2010|p=1565}}</ref> ''Ramacharitamanasa'' was composed in the 16th century by [[Tulsidas]].<ref>{{harvnb|Poddar|2001|pp=26–29}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Das|2010|p=63}}</ref><ref name="britramcharit">[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ramcharitmanas Ramcharitmanas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411223352/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ramcharitmanas |date=11 April 2017 }}, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2012)</ref> The popular text is notable for synthesising the epic story in a [[Bhakti movement]] framework, wherein the original legends and ideas morph in an expression of spiritual [[bhakti]] (devotional love) for a personal god.<ref name="britramcharit" />{{sfn|Schomer|McLeod|1987|p=75}}{{refn|group=lower-greek|For example, like other Hindu poet-saints of the Bhakti movement before the 16th century,  Tulsidas in ''Ramcharitmanas'' recommends the simplest path to devotion is ''Nam-simran'' (absorb oneself in remembering the divine name "Rama"). He suggests either vocally repeating the name (''jap'') or silent repetition in mind (''ajapajap''). This concept of Rama moves beyond the divinised hero and connotes an "all-pervading Being" and equivalent to ''atmarama'' within. The term ''atmarama'' is a compound of "Atma" and "Rama", it literally means "he who finds joy in his own self", according to the French Indologist [[Charlotte Vaudeville]] known for her studies on Ramayana and Bhakti movement.{{sfn|Schomer|McLeod|1987|pp=31–32 with footnotes 13 and 16 (by C. Vaudeville).}}}}

Tulsidas was inspired by ''Adhyatma Ramayana'', where Rama and other figures of the ''Valmiki Ramayana'' along with their attributes (''saguna'' narrative) were transposed into spiritual terms and abstract rendering of an ''[[Atman (Hinduism)|Atma]]'' (soul, self, [[Brahmana|''Brahman'']]) without attributes (''[[nirguna]]'' reality).<ref name=jnfarquhar158/><ref name="Tulasīdāsa1989p875"/>{{sfn|Schomer|McLeod|1987|pp=31, 74–75 with footnotes, Quote: "What is striking about the dohas in the Ramcharitmanas however is that they frequently have a sant-like ring to them, breaking into the very midst of the saguna narrative with a statement of nirguna reality".}} According to Kapoor, Rama's life story in the ''Ramacharitamanasa'' combines mythology, philosophy, and religious beliefs into a story of life, a code of ethics, a treatise on universal human values.<ref name="Pollet1995p181"/> It debates in its dialogues the human dilemmas, the ideal standards of behaviour, duties to those one loves, and mutual responsibilities. It inspires the audience to view their own lives from a spiritual plane, encouraging the virtuous to keep going, and comforting those oppressed with a healing balm.<ref name="Pollet1995p181">{{cite book|author=A Kapoor|editor=Gilbert Pollet|title=Indian Epic Values: Rāmāyaṇa and Its Impact|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVnK3q48dL0C&pg=PA181 |year=1995|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=978-90-6831-701-5|pages=181–186}}</ref>

The ''Ramacharitmanas'' is notable for being the Rama-based play commonly performed every year in autumn, during the weeklong performance arts festival of ''[[Ramlila]]''.<ref name="Jennifer Lindsay 2006 12–14"/> The "staging of the ''Ramayana'' based on the ''Ramacharitmanas''" was inscribed in 2008 by UNESCO as one of the Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity.<ref name="unescodussehra">{{Cite web|title=Ramlila-The traditional performance of Ramayana|url=http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/ramlila-the-traditional-performance-of-the-ramayana-00110|access-date=8 March 2021|website=[[UNESCO]]|archive-date=31 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131032510/http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/ramlila-the-traditional-performance-of-the-ramayana-00110|url-status=live}}</ref>