Tulsidas began writing the Ramcharitmanas in Ayodhya in Vikram Samvat 1631 (1574 CE).
  The exact date is stated within the poem as being the ninth day of the month of Chaitra, which is the birthday of Rama, Rama Navami.
Ramcharitmanas was composed at Ayodhya, Varanasi & Chitrakoot.
India was under the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar (1556-1605 CE) during this period.
This also makes Tulsidas a contemporary of William Shakespeare.

The Ramcharitmanas is written in vernacular Awadhi language, The core of the work is considered by some to be a poetic retelling of the events of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana by Valmiki.
The Valmiki Ramayana is centered on the narrative of Rama, the scion of the family tree of king Raghu of the Sun Dynasty.
Rama was the crown prince of Ayodhya and is considered in Hindu tradition as the seventh Avatar of Vishnu.
However, the Ramacharitmanas is by no means a word-to-word copy of the Valmiki Ramayana nor an abridged re-telling of the latter.
Ramcaritmanas has elements from many other Ramayanas written earlier in Sanskrit and other Indian dialects as well as stories from Puranas.
Tulsidas himself never writes Ramcharitmanas as being a retelling of Valmiki Ramayana.
He calls the epic Ramcharitmanas as the story of Rama, that was stored in the mind (Mānasa) of Shiva before he narrated the same to His wife Parvati.
Tulsidas claims to have received the story through his guru, Narharidas.
Tulsidas was a naive (Acheta) child and the story was stored in his mind (Mānasa) for long before he wrote it down as Ramcharitmanas.
Some understand this passage of the Ramcharitmanas to mean that Tulsidas at first could not grasp the story fully as he was a naïve young boy.
His guru graciously repeated it again and again so that he could understand and remember it.
Then he narrated the story and named it Ramcharitmanas as Shiva himself called it.
The epic poem is, therefore, also referred to as Tulsikrit Ramayana (literally, The Ramayana composed by Tulsidas).

The Ramcharitmanas is a masterpiece of vernacular literature.
Some believe it to represent a challenge to the dominance of high-class Brahmanical Sanskrit, echoing the revolt of Buddha against Brahmanical elitism.
However, this interpretation appears faulty as Tulsidas himself was a brahmin and often talks very highly of the Brahmins in Ramcharitmanas and other books written by him.
It was the attempt of Tulsidas to reconcile the different stories of Rama and to bring the story within the reach of the common man.
Tulsidas began writing the Ramcharitmanas in Ayodhya in Vikram Samvat 1631 (1574 CE).   The exact date is stated within the poem as being the ninth day of the month of Chaitra, which is the birthday of Rama, Rama Navami. Ramcharitmanas was composed at Ayodhya, Varanasi & Chitrakoot. India was under the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar (1556-1605 CE) during this period. This also makes Tulsidas a contemporary of William Shakespeare.
The Ramcharitmanas is written in vernacular Awadhi language, The core of the work is considered by some to be a poetic retelling of the events of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana by Valmiki. The Valmiki Ramayana is centered on the narrative of Rama, the scion of the family tree of king Raghu of the Sun Dynasty. Rama was the crown prince of Ayodhya and is considered in Hindu tradition as the seventh Avatar of Vishnu. However, the Ramacharitmanas is by no means a word-to-word copy of the Valmiki Ramayana nor an abridged re-telling of the latter. Ramcaritmanas has elements from many other Ramayanas written earlier in Sanskrit and other Indian dialects as well as stories from Puranas. Tulsidas himself never writes Ramcharitmanas as being a retelling of Valmiki Ramayana. He calls the epic Ramcharitmanas as the story of Rama, that was stored in the mind (Mānasa) of Shiva before he narrated the same to His wife Parvati. Tulsidas claims to have received the story through his guru, Narharidas.Tulsidas was a naive (Acheta) child and the story was stored in his mind (Mānasa) for long before he wrote it down as Ramcharitmanas. Some understand this passage of the Ramcharitmanas to mean that Tulsidas at first could not grasp the story fully as he was a naïve young boy. His guru graciously repeated it again and again so that he could understand and remember it. Then he narrated the story and named it Ramcharitmanas as Shiva himself called it. The epic poem is, therefore, also referred to as Tulsikrit Ramayana (literally, The Ramayana composed by Tulsidas).
The Ramcharitmanas is a masterpiece of vernacular literature. Some believe it to represent a challenge to the dominance of high-class Brahmanical Sanskrit, echoing the revolt of Buddha against Brahmanical elitism. However, this interpretation appears faulty as Tulsidas himself was a brahmin and often talks very highly of the Brahmins in Ramcharitmanas and other books written by him. It was the attempt of Tulsidas to reconcile the different stories of Rama and to bring the story within the reach of the common man.
Ramcharitmanas