Pages

Pages

Hinduism - Who Is Bhushundi?





Bhushundi is a character in Tulsidas' (1532–1623?) Ramcharitmanas, a rendition of the Ramayana authored by the poet-saint Tulsidas





Bhushundi is a crow who represents the ability of devotion to God to rehabilitate even the most deplorable of animals


  • One of the most noticeable distinctions between the original Valmiki Ramayana and the Tulsidas Ramayana is that Tulsidas emphasizes devotion to Rama much more than the original Valmiki Ramayana, as Bhushundi exemplifies. 
  • Crows are considered filthy birds in Indian culture because they are scavengers that would devour everything. 





Yet, in one of the Ramcharitmanas' narrative levels, it is the "unclean" crow Bhushundi who tells the tale to the "holy" bird Garuda, the deity Vishnu's chariot. 

  • Bhushundi describes the frightening experience of being granted an unmediated view of Rama in all his grandeur in the Ramayana, and how he (like the sage Markandeya) entered inside Rama's mouth and saw the whole world within.


~Kiran Atma

You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.

Be sure to check out my writings on religion here.