Book chapter
Lost in the lake 1: Tulsīdās and his others
Regional Communities of Devotion in South Asia, pp.160-176
Routledge, 1
2020
DOI: 10.4324/9781351023382-9
Abstract
This chapter considers the Rāmcaritmānas, Tulsīdās’ influencing sixteenth-century epic poem of Rām, in order to identify those who fall outside the broad devotional canopy of “salvation” this text presents, a canopy that includes within its fold Muslims, outcastes, and even “Brahmin-murderers.” Among those who receive condemnation in the text, the chapter focuses on the heretics who not only simply hold incorrect views about the nature of God but also expound them to others. These “lost” and deluding souls advocate devotion to a supreme deity who—though generally identified by Vaiṣṇava names such as “Hari,” “Prabhu,” “Govind,” “Keśav,” “Bhāgavan,” “Nārāyaṇ,” and especially “Rām,” and occasionally through allusions to Vaiṣṇava mythology—is typically declared to be beyond all forms, categories, and narratives; in short, to be nirguṇa. For Tulsī, the exaltation of Rām’s name, as well as the glorification (found in many passages) of the Lord’s nirguṇa aspect, always coexists with fervent love for his embodiment in human form, and it is the nirguṇa-adoring devotees’ rejection of the saguṇa Lord, and their imputation of human failings to him, that elicits the strongest response from Tulsī.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Lost in the lake 1: Tulsīdās and his others
- Creators
- Philip Lutgendorf
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- Regional Communities of Devotion in South Asia, pp.160-176
- Edition
- 1
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781351023382-9
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2020
- Academic Unit
- Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures; International Programs
- Record Identifier
- 9984398008902771
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