Jagadguru Rambhadracharya (or Swami Rambhadracharya) is a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

religious leader,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

scholar and '' Katha'' artist based in Chitrakoot, India. His works consist of poems, commentaries, plays and musical compositions of his works, etc. He has authored more than 100 books and 50 papers, including four epic poems (two each in Sanskrit and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

), a Hindi commentary on

Tulsidas Tulsidas (; born Rambola Dubey; also known as Goswami Tulsidas; c.1511pp. 23–34.–1623) was a Ramanandi Vaishnava Hindu saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. He wrote several popular works in Sanskrit and Awadhi, but ...

Ramcharitmanas ''Ramcharitmanas'' ( deva, श्रीरामचरितमानस, Rāmacaritamānasa), is an epic poem in the Awadhi language, based on the ''Ramayana'', and composed by the 16th-century Indian bhakti poet Tulsidas (c. 1532–1623). This ...

, and Sanskrit commentaries on the Ashtadhyayi and the

Prasthanatrayi Prasthanatrayi ( sa, प्रस्थानत्रयी, IAST: ), literally, ''three sources (or axioms)'', refers to the three canonical texts of theology having epistemic authority, especially of the Vedanta schools. It consists of: # The ...

scriptures.Dinkar 2008, pp. 40–43. Various audio and video recordings o his works have also been released. He writes in Sanskrit, Hindi,

Awadhi Awadhi (; ), also known as Audhi (), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern India and Nepal. It is primarily spoken in the Awadh region of present-day Uttar Pradesh, India. The name ''Awadh'' is connected to Ayodhya, the ancient city, w ...

, Maithili, and several other languages.Dinkar 2008, p. 39. ''

Śrībhārgavarāghavīyam ''Śrībhārgavarāghavīyam'' ( sa, श्रीभार्गवराघवीयम्) (2002), literally ''Of Paraśurāma and Rāma'', is a Sanskrit epic poem (Mahākāvya) composed by Jagadguru Rambhadracharya (1950–). It consists ...

'' is his most notable work, for which he won several awards including the

Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit The Sahitya Akademi Award is an annual award, given by the Sahitya Akademi (India's National Academy of Letters), to writers in 24 Indian languages. The award was instituted and first awarded in 1955. , the award carries a monetary reward of , ...

. He has also been given many other literary honors and titles, such as ''Mahakavi'' (Great poet) and ''Kavikularatna'' (Jewel of the poet clan).Chandra 2008, p. 21. His major literary and musical compositions, grouped by genre, are listed below.Nagar 2002, pp. 89–90.

Key

Poetry

Mahākāvyas (Epic poems)

Khaṇḍakāvyas (minor poems)

Gītakāvyas (lyrical poems)

Śatakakāvyas (Poems of one hundred verses)

Stotrakāvyas (Eulogies)

Other poems

Plays

Prose

Sanskrit commentaries on the Prasthānatrayī

Rambhadracharya composed Sanskrit commentaries titled ''Śrīrāghavakṛpābhāṣyam'' on the

– Brahma Sutra, the Bhagavad Gita, and eleven Upanishads. These commentaries were released on 10 April 1998 by the then Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee.Nagar 2002, p. 88. Rambhadracharya composed ''Śrīrāghavakṛpābhāṣyam'' on

Narada Bhakti Sutra The ''Narada Bhakti Sutra'' ( IAST: ) is a well known sutra venerated within the traditions of Hinduism, reportedly spoken by the famous sage, Narada. The text details the process of devotion ( Bhakti), or Bhakti yoga and is thus of particular ...

in 1991. He thus revived—after five hundred years—the tradition of Sanskrit commentaries on the Prasthanatrayi. He also gave the Ramananda Sampradaya its second commentary on Prasthanatrayi in Sanskrit, the first being the ''Ānandabhāṣyam'', composed by Ramananda himself. Rambhadracharya's commentary in Sanskrit on the Prasthanatrayi was the first written in almost 600 years.

Other Sanskrit commentaries

Hindi commentaries

Critiques

Discourses

Critical edition of Ramcharitmanas

Rambhadracharya's most controversial work was the critical edition of the Ramcharitmanas, which was published as the Tulsi Peeth edition. He was accused of tampering with the epic, but the dispute died down after Rambhadracharya expressed his regret for any annoyance or pain caused by the publication. A writ petition was also filed against him but it was dismissed. This edition was published in 2005 by Shri Tulsi Peeth Seva Nyas.

Audio and video

References

Notes

Works cited

* * *

External links

Official website of Jagadguru Rambhadracharya
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rambhadracharya Bibliographies by writer Bibliographies of Indian writers

Key