AWAKENINGS

There are conflicting reports about the birth year of Goswami Tulsidas – a realized soul, saint, poet, reformer and philosopher.  Though there are consensus about the year of his attaining Mukthi – i.e. 1623 in the month of Shraavan (July – August) on the river bank of Ganges at Assi Ghat in Varnashi , various opinions are mooted regarding the birth year of Tulsidas – according to some the year of birth was 1497 and for others the year was 1532. Hence Tulsidas had lived around 126 or 91 years depending upon how one takes his year of birth.  His birth place is however identified at Rajapur – also known as Chitrakuta at the banks of Yamuna river in UP. Upon  his father Atmaram Dubey’s death after four days of Tulsidas’s birth, his mother – Hulsi , fearing for her life like her husband, had abandoned her child Tulsidas   and Chuniya – the female maid of his mother – took care of Tulsidas at her native place Haripur . At Tulsidas’s 5 ½ years of age, Chuniya also