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VI. TULSI DAS AND THE RAMA CULT (1550-1800) Tulsi Das.— The most celebrated name in Hindi literature is undoubtedly that of Tulsi Das, whose Hindi Ramayan has had great and deserved fame not only in India but throughout the whole world. The details of his life, apart from legends, are very scanty. He is said to have been_ born about 1532, and his father's name is given as Atma Ram and his mother's as Hulasi. His own name was at first Rambola, but when he became a devotee he took the name of Tulsi Das. The place of his birth is not known with certainty. According to some he was born at Hastinapur ; according to others at Hajipur, near Chitrakut. But the tradition which is most generally accepted is that he was born at Rajpur, in the district of Banda. He was a Kanauji Brahman, and it is said that his guru was Narharidas, who was sixth in preceptorial succession from Ramananda, He himself tells us, in the introduction to the Ramayan, that he studied at Sukar-khet, or Soron. When he was a young man it is said that he loved his wife very much, and one day, when she had gone home to her father's house, Tulsi Das was greatly troubled on account of separation from her. He therefore hastened after her, although it involved crossing a swollen river in the dark. His wife, however, rebuked him, saying that if only he would have as great devotion to Rama, the earth would become gold. These words acted as a call to Tulsi Das. At daybreak he left home, and became a devotee of Rama, taking up his abode at Benares.