Tulasīdāsa

Tulasīdāsa · tulasī-dāsa, “the servant of Tulasī”

Tulasīdāsa, whom the Bhavishya Purāṇa calls Tulasīśarmā, is a greatly detached Vaishṇava poet at Kāśī, in the line of Śrī Rāmānanda. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells that in his former birth he was Śrīdhara, the first of the twenty disciples of the brāhmaṇa Mukunda, who was performing tapas at Prayāga.

His former birth

Sūta tells Śaunaka that the thirteen disciples beginning with Śrīdhara were established in places other than the court of Akbara. Śrīdhara, the son of Anapa, skilled in the Purāṇas, became famous as Tulasīśarmā. Taking his teaching from a woman, he became a greatly detached Vaishṇava poet at Kāśī, in the line of Śrī Rāmānanda.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 22–23

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 22–23