Il concetto di poesia nel Ramayana di Tulasidasa

Abstract

Tulasidasa is a great name in Hindi literature. His Ramacaritamanasa in renowned in the academic world as well as among the masses, but very little has been written on his ideas and ideals of poetry and literary conventions. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Tulasidasa's ideas of poetry and poetic notions as advocated by him in his Ramayana (Ramacaritamanasa). The poet modestly mentions that he does not possess the skills of poetry. However, it becomes clear from his Ramayana that Tulasidasa was well versed in Indian classical poetic traditions although his main object was to narrate the story for the devotes of Rama. This paper points to the fact that the poet's concept of rasa (poetic aesthetics), dhvani (poetic suggestiveness), alankara (ornaments), metres etc. all come through in his Ramayana very well. The poet reminds the reader that in good poetry the heart, the mind, the intellect and fine words play an important role, but his main object was devotion to Rama, an incarnation of Visnu and Brahman both. According to Tulasidasa this whole Ramakatha is meaningless if one does not have love and devotion for Rama.