The Book 'Ram Charit Manas: The Divine Story of Lord Ram' is a famous classical narration of the epic story of the Ramayana, a story that extensively describes the life and time of Lord Ram, a human manifestation of the Supreme Being. It was written in its primary form by an ancient illustrious poet-saint Goswami Tulsidas of India who was a blessed soul and a great devotee of Lord Ram. This much revered and Holy Book stands out as being unique amongst all other renderings of Lord Ram's divine story, universally known by a generic name as the epic 'The Ramayana', by the virtue of the beauty of its narrative style and poetry, the heart-touching devotional quotient inherent in its verses, as well as for the depth and profundity of its spiritual messages and metaphysical contents.
The Book 'Ram Charit Manas: The Divine Story of Lord Ram' is divided into 7 Cantos, named Baal Kand, Ayodhya Kand, Aranya Kand, Kishkindha Kand, Sundar Kand, Lanka Kand, and Uttar Kand.
Our present Book narrates the Divine Story of Lord Ram in Ram Charit Manas, Canto 1, Baal Kand, in simple English with detailed explanatory notes and verse-by-verse Roman Transliteration of the original verses in Hindi. The text not only describes the main Story from different angles and perspectives but also tells many other related stories, episodes and events that would be very informative for the reader. The author has taken great pains to explain the text in fine detail, cutting no corners and leaving no effort, as far as he could and what was within his abilities, in attempting to bring to the fore the subtle meaning of the verses that would ordinarily escape attention, explaining them from different angles.
This Canto no. 1, the 'Baal Kand', can be broadly divided into 2 parts: The first half is a sort of a Preamble or Introduction. It starts with the poet Tulsidas offering his obeisance and prayers to various entities; then the glory and divinity of Lord Ram's holy name and the spiritual value of reading, listening and narrating of Ram Charit Manas are enumerated. This is followed by a brief outline of the Genesis of the Story, and the various reasons why the Supreme Being was obliged to manifest himself as a human in the form of Lord Ram; some episodes that describe the events that culminated in Lord Ram's birth have been described in detail.
The actual Story of Ram Charit Manas that describes the life and time of Lord Ram commences in the second half of Baal Kand. Here we read about the Lord's birth in Ayodhya, his childhood days, his going with sage Vishwamitra to protect his fire sacrifice successfully; then proceeding to Janakpur where the Lord effortlessly fulfilled the condition of breaking of a Bow to marry Sita, the princess of this kingdom. Sage Parashuram had caused a stir by angrily intervening, but finally calmed down and went away after offering his apologies to Lord Ram.
All the three brothers of Lord Ram, i.e. Bharat, Laxman and Shatrughan, too got married at the same time. The marriage ceremony and festivities, the celebrations and joy that marked that auspicious occasion, have been elaborately and enthusiastically described.
The Canto ends with the return of the newly wedded four princes with their brides back home to Ayodhya, settling down in routine life, and the departure of sage Vishwamitra to his hermitage.
