Why Tulsidas Left His Wife and Embraced Sanyas

Tulsidas’s decision to leave his wife, Ratnawali, and dedicate his life completely to spiritual devotion is one of the most compelling episodes associated with his life. The story has been passed down through traditional biographies and popular accounts.

According to tradition, Tulsidas was deeply attached to Ratnawali. One day, while she was staying at her parents’ home, he found himself unable to bear their separation. Ignoring the darkness, heavy rain and danger of the journey, he set out at night to meet her.

Popular versions of the story say that Tulsidas crossed a flooded river by holding on to what he believed was a floating log, only to discover that it was a corpse. He then reportedly climbed to Ratnawali’s room using what he thought was a rope but was actually a snake. These dramatic details belong to legend and may have been added over time to illustrate the intensity of his attachment.

When Tulsidas finally appeared before Ratnawali, she was shocked by the risks he had taken. Instead of being pleased, she rebuked him for directing such extraordinary attachment towards her mortal body. She is traditionally believed to have told him that if he possessed the same love and devotion for Ram, he would be freed from worldly fear and attain spiritual fulfilment.

A commonly attributed version of Ratnawali’s words compares Tulsidas’s attachment to her body, made of flesh and bone, with the devotion he should have offered to Ram. The exact wording varies between accounts, and there is no contemporary historical record confirming the conversation. Nevertheless, its central message has remained unchanged: human beauty and the physical body are temporary, while devotion to the divine leads towards something eternal.

Ratnawali’s words are said to have affected Tulsidas profoundly. He recognised the excessive nature of his worldly attachment and began to view his life from a completely different perspective. What had been intense devotion to one person was gradually transformed into unwavering devotion to Ram.

Following this moment of awakening, Tulsidas left the life of a householder and embraced a life of renunciation, spiritual study and devotion. It is often described as his acceptance of sanyas, although accounts of his life differ on whether he formally entered a particular monastic order.

This transformation marked an important turning point in the traditional story of Tulsidas. He eventually became one of India’s most revered saint-poets. His greatest work, the Ramcharitmanas, retold the story of the Ramayan in Awadhi, making it accessible to people who could not read Sanskrit. The work had an extraordinary influence on devotional literature, religious performance and the worship of Ram across northern India.

Ratnawali is often remembered only as the wife Tulsidas left behind, but the tradition gives her a much more influential role. Her wisdom is presented as the force that redirected his life from personal attachment towards spiritual devotion. Whether every detail of the episode is historically accurate or partly legendary, its message remains powerful: honest words, self-reflection and a change in perspective can completely transform the direction of a person’s life.