The Ramayana of Tulsidas ranks among the greatest and most popular religious classics of the world. One reason for its universal popularity and why it still casts a spell is because it is based on certain moral and spiritual values which have universal appeal. While Valmiki Ramayana is composed in Sanskrit, Tulsidas deliberately chose to write in the common man's language, Awadhi - a dialect of Hindi. When Valmiki wrote his Ramayana, India was at its peak of cultural refinement. At the time when Tulsidas wrote there was widespread degradation in the values of life. Society was vitiated by the rivalry among different faiths and sects to acquaint the mass with what was best in the Hindu scriptures in understandable language.