श्रीरामचरितमानसRamcharitmanas

About this scripture

The Ramcharitmanas (shriRamacharitamanasa) is the Awadhi retelling of the story of Rama composed in the 16th century by the poet-saint Tulsidas (Goswami Tulsidas). One of the most beloved and widely recited works of Hindi-belt devotional literature, it narrates the life of Rama across seven books (kandas): Bal Kand (Rama's birth and youth, his marriage to Sita), Ayodhya Kand (the exile), Aranya Kand (the forest years and Sita's abduction), Kishkindha Kand (the alliance with Sugriva), Sundar Kand (Hanuman's journey to Lanka), Lanka Kand (the war and Ravana's defeat), and Uttar Kand (the return to Ayodhya and the teachings that follow). The text is built of chaupai couplets punctuated by doha, soratha, and chhand verses, grouped into doha-numbered segments. The complete Devanagari (Awadhi) text is reproduced here from a public-domain source. The fifth book, Sundar Kand, also ships as a standalone scripture. A best-effort Roman transliteration now accompanies every verse of all seven books, while the researched English prose rendering and Hindi commentary are being extended book by book — at present the Sundar, Aranya, and Kishkindha books carry all three layers, with the remaining books to follow in later passes.