Ricerc@Sapienza

This article represents the revised and enlarged version of the essay (published in 2012), where a new interpretation of Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas at the light of the dynamics of Hinduization of Adivasi groups in northern and central India was proposed. Compared to the first version, some additions have been made to the text and a number of entirely new notes have been added. The first part of the paper contains a textual analysis of a few selected passages where Tulsi more radically deviates from, or innovates with regard to, the classical Ramayana narration.

In this essay I argue that the use of the polarity principle as a heuristic tool can reveal embedded or structural continuities throughout the history of Indian civilization. To substantiate this hypothesis, I analyse how the polarity constituted by elements such as movement, nomadism, mobility, and homelessness, on the one