PREFACE

Since childhood, in the religious and cultural celebrations taking place at

our home, the stanzas o f Manas in the form o f songs and rhythm s lessons

kept on pleasing and satisfying the heaijt. Stepping ahead in the circle o f

studies beginning from the primary education till the graduation level, Manas

has kept stim ulating and contributing itj role somewhere. Gradually, the

im pact o f M anas on m y h e art started b eco m in g d eep seated and

imperishable, and while studying in the college, a desire aroused in my bosom

to do something different and special on Manas.

For this context, I m et Prof. Dharmdev Tiwari, the then Head, Department o f

Hindi, Gauhati University. It was the outcome o f my good fortune that in

between this meeting, the eminent scholar o f Manas, respected Dr. Vivek

Kumar Srivastav, Professor and Head, Department o f Hindi, NEHU, Shillong

entered and both o f them very easily and willingly gave their positive response

to my research related desire. There itself, looking at my interest in Manas,

accordingly, the framework o f Manas was formed. Although a lot o f research

work has been done on Manas, the subject o f dialogue was absolutely

untouched. Thus follow ing the suggestion o f both o f them, the field o f

research was chosen “DIALOGUES IN RAM CHARIT MANAS OF TULS1

DAS”. Even after deciding the field or area, when the question o f supervision
arose, both o f them tried to escape it and w anted to h an d over the

responsibility on each other. Fortunately, it was Dr. Krishna^-Bev Prasad

Magadh, the ex-H ead o f D epartm ent o f Hindi, G auhati U niversity came to

m y rescue and then he handed over the whole responsibility o f supervising

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my work to respected Tiwariji. Along with respected Tiwariji, the equal
responsibility was given on the shoulder of respected Srivastavaji regarding
assistance and supervision. Hence, the research work finally took a shape
and was given a noble start.

Keeping in mind the convenience of reading, the research work is divided

into seven chapters. The subject matter of every chapter is as follows:

In the first chapter, THE NEED OF RESEARCH, THE AREA OF THE

SU B JEC T, THE PR O C E D U R E AND P R O C E E D IN G OF
RESEARCH, THE W ORK DONE SO FAR IN THIS PARTICULAR
AREA, THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF DIALOGUE, THE
TYPES OF DIALOGUE etc are focused on.

In the second chapter, the dialogues of Ram Charit Manas are divided and
specified. This division is based on the four speakers and the listeners
depicted respectively in Man as—Sh iv- Parvati, Yagyavalkaya- Bhardwaj,
Kakbhusundi-Garur and Tulsidas-Sant—and the dialogues delivered by them
on the four respective Ghats—Gyaan Ghat, Karmkand Ghat, Upasana Ghat
and Dainya Ghat.

The third chapter incorporates the dialogues of Shiva- Parvati on Gyaan

Ghat. It includes altogether eighty one dialogues. This chapter opens with an
illusion in the mind of Sati on the divine aspects of Lord Rama. Shiva narrates
the different episodes of the story of Lord Rama to break the illusion. The
chapter ends with the disappearance of the illusion of Parvati and sprouting
of a new love in the heart of Parvati towards Lord Rama.
 The fourth chapter throws light on the dialogues that take place between
Yagyavalkaya and Bhardwaj on Karmkand Ghat. This chapter contains
altogether twenty two dialogues. The chapter opens with a doubt that is there
in the mind of Bhardwaj regarding the divine character of Lord Rama. In
response, Yagyavalkaya, touching the episode of the birth o f Parvati, her
marriage with Lord Shiva etc. and throwing the light on the causes of the
birth of Rama, achieves success in clearing the doubts of Bhardwaj through
✓

the story of Lord Rama.

In the fifth chapter, the detailed description is given to the dialogues

delivered by Kakbhusundi and Garur on Upasana Ghat. This chapter has
eighteen dialogues in total. In this chapter, Kakbhusundi highlights the
importance of knowledge and devotion with the medium of the story of
Lord Ram in order to remove the doubts of Garur through some moral
lessons while explaining the story, episode and dialogues. At the end, the
glory of Bhajan has been established.

The sixth chapter contains the dialogues of Sant Tulsi Das on Dainya Ghat.
There are forty four dialogues in this chapter. This chapter basically gives an
expansion to the stories of Ayodhya Kand through the medium of
dialogues. Finally, Tulsi Das sings the gloiy of Lord Rama and longs for the
devotion and love in the feet of Lord Rama.

In the seventh chapter, the conclusion of this research work has been
presented. From the out come of the research work, it appears that the
dialogues introduced in Manas provide movement to the plot, expose the
various features of the characters and enhance the artistic construction and

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 expression. All the dialogues have their own importance. Their construction

is quite natural, simple and not imposed.

I would like to express my gratitude to all those who, directly or indirectly,

have helped me to cany' out and present the work reported in this thesis.

First o f all, I pray to the O m nipotent Almighty' Lord Shiva and Mother

Parvati, by whose grace this research work based on the story o f Lord

Rama has taken a final shape.

Secondly, I with my whole heart, acknowledge my gratitude to my guide

and supervisor Sri D hanndev Tiwari who with all his knowledge and

minute critical assessment supervised my work and gave a fatherly affection

to me through out my work. W hatever he has done for me is unaccountable

and the pages are not sufficient to express my gratitude towards him

In the same line, I acknowledge respected Dr. Vivek Kumar Snvastava. the

then Reader, Department o f Hindi, Gauhati University, who gave his

invaluable advices at every step and always held the torch o f knowledge and

guidance to me. I honestly thank him for his constructive suggestions,

critical comments, and guidance generously given. He has always showered

the drops o f knowledge on me from time to time from his infinite exposure

to Manas.

Now I acknowledge Dr. Bhupendra Roy Choudhary, Head, Department o f

Hindi, Gauhati University, Dr. Dilip Medhi, Dr. Lakhyanand Pathak, GB

Achyut Sharma, all o f whom, in some way or the other helped and encouraged

me to carry out this research work.

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Last but not the least, I w ith my whole heart pay regards to m y father

Shri Raghwendra Prasad Pandey and m other Srimati Jaiwanti Devi who were

always eager to stim ulate me towards Lord Ram a and have always inspired

me in all m y academ ic ventures since childhood. In fact, the main and

original source o f energy and inspiration towards this work lies in the thoughts

o f my father.

I also owe m y regards towards my respected father-in-law Sri Shyam Dev

M ishra and m other-in-law Late Srimati Shyama Devi w ithout w hose moral

support and encouragem ent, this w ork w ould have been impossible. N ow I

also would like to acknowledge the constant physical and moral support o f

my husband Dr. Bharat Bhushan Mishra whose company and attachment was

always there w ith me both physically and mentally. In the completion o f this

work, the childish inquisitiveness o f both my children M aster Kartikeya

M ishra and M aster M rigank M ishra was always, inspiring and valuable for

me. Apart from this, I w ould also like to acknowledge the support given to

me by all my fam ily members.

In this work, the help o f some o f the local acquainted scholars and some

family friends is also indispensable for which I’ll always feel gratefiil. Some

o f them w hom I should enlist here are Sri N arendra B ahabur Verma, the

Ex-District M agistrate (Varansi), Sri Satish K um ar Verma, Ex-Vice

Principal, K okrajhar College, Sri N arendra Pratap Singh, Head, Department

o f Zoology, K okrajhar College, Sri N arendra Prasad, A ssistant Engineer,

Department o f Irrigation, Govt, o f Assam. M y special thanks are also due to

Sri Jadav Pegu, Election Officer, Kokrajhar, Smti Farddina Hussain,

Lecturer, D epartm ent o f English, Kokrajhar Campus, G auhati University

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and Dr. Bharat Bhushan Mishra, Medical Officer (Ay). Civil Hospital,

Kokrajhar for their active and moral cooperation as Proof readers o f the

thesis. Finally, I thank Miss Preeti Patwari, M.A., M.Phil (Eng.) and Sri Kajal

Das for their help in typing and printing.

Along with this I also thank the Librarian o f Gauhati University for his

time to time co-operation.

IVlanju Pantley

Date: 2 °i - b - ^

Place: Gv i-~ A w v-u

C/o Dr. B.B. Mishra.

College Road, Ward no. 6.

Kokrajhar. Assam.

Pin- 783370.

Ph.no. 03661-70964.

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