Tulsidas’ contribution to Indian tradition is manifold. He is not only regarded as a reformer who brought about a unity among the many sects within an otherwise disintegrated Hindu society but also as a poet-saint who upheld the old Brahmanical social order. Others hold him responsible for the deification of Ram who was hitherto conceived of as a human being albeit the best among the humans. These claims which seem to be impelled by socio-politico-cultural critique of Tulsi’s poetry do hold him as an unparalleled poet-saint amongst his contemporaries. However, they fail to acknowledge an important philosophical innovation of Tulsi that changed the course of direction of Indian intellectual tradition thereafter. This paper argues that in Tulsidas, persona of Ram became a source of practical spiritual knowledge which not only provided a learning model for having an access to one’s complex experiences in the world but also created an action tool to make spiritual progress possible through the route of bhakti. Implicit in this argument is an assertion made by some Indic scholars that experience is the primary source of knowledge in a tradition like India. However, it is difficult to have access to such experiences as they are very complex and shadowed by our varied moods and desires. Traditions offer different routes through which an individual learns to navigate through such experiences. This paper, in reading the poetry of Tulsidas, aims to show how bhakti emerges as one such route that mobilizes an access to such experiences.

Authors:
Vaibhav Shah, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, India

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Vaibhav Shah is currently Associate Professor at the school of Liberal Studies, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gujarat, India.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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