Rambhadracharya
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Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya (born Giridhar Mishra on 14 January 1950) is an Indian Hindu spiritual leader, educator, Sanskrit scholar, polyglot, poet, author, textual commentator, philosopher, composer, singer, playwright and Katha artist based in Chitrakoot, India. He is one of four incumbent Jagadguru Ramanandacharyas, and has held this title since 1988. Rambhadracharya is the founder and head of Tulsi Peeth, a religious and social service institution in Chitrakoot named after Tulsidas. He is the founder and lifelong chancellor of the Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University in Chitrakoot, which offers graduate and postgraduate courses exclusively to four types of disabled students. Rambhadracharya has been blind since the age of two months, had no formal education until the age of seventeen years, and has never used Braille or any other aid to learn or compose. Rambhadracharya can speak 22 languages and is a spontaneous poet and writer in Bhojpuri, Sanskrit, Hindi, and several other languages. He has authored more than 240 books and 50 papers, including four epic poems, Hindi commentaries on Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas and Hanuman Chalisa, a Sanskrit commentary in verse on the Ashtadhyayi, and Sanskrit commentaries on the Prasthanatrayi scriptures. He is acknowledged for his knowledge in diverse fields including Sanskrit grammar, Nyaya and Vedanta. He is regarded as one of the greatest authorities on Tulsidas in India, and is the editor of a critical edition of the Ramcharitmanas. He is a Katha artist for the Ramayana and the Bhagavata. His Katha programmes are held regularly in different cities in India and other countries, and are telecast on television channels like Shubh TV, Sanskar TV and Sanatan TV. He is also a leader of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).