The Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas's Awadhi retelling of the Ramayana composed around 1574, structures its narrative theologically around devotion, bhakti, to Rama as a saving divine incarnation rather than merely recounting Valmiki's older epic as history or literature, a framing that has made it the single most influential devotional text for Hindi-belt Vaishnava Hinduism for over four centuries, per Philip Lutgendorf's scholarly study of the text's continuing performance life. The text is recited, sung and performed continuously across North India, most visibly through Ramlila, elaborate annual dramatic reenactments of Rama's life performed in Awadhi and regional languages during the autumn festival season, traditions themselves recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage, and through akhand path, continuous unbroken recitation of the entire text over one or several days as an act of devotion.
Awadhi's specific verse forms and vocabulary in the Ramcharitmanas remain actively studied, sung and memorized by devotees today even where everyday Awadhi as a living spoken vernacular has receded considerably in favor of standard Hindi. The Ramcharitmanas is traditionally organized into seven books, or kandas, mirroring the structure of Valmiki's Sanskrit original, and alternates between doha and chaupai verse forms, a metrical structure that itself became a template later Awadhi and Hindi devotional poets frequently imitated.