Valmiki (
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
: वाल्मीकि,
vālmīki) (ca. 400 BCE, northern India) is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic,
RamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is attributed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon . The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India, the other being Mahabharata...
, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the
Adi Kavi, which means
First Poet, for he discovered the first
ślokaThe Sanskrit term ' specifically denotes a metered and often rhymed poetic verse or phrase. Shloka has become equated with Hindu prayer and is often comparable to a proverb and hymn of praise to be sung or chanted in liturgy. Shloka are generally composed in a specified meter, typically part of...
i.e. first
verse, which set the base and defined the form to Sanskrit poetry.
Valmiki (
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
: वाल्मीकि,
vālmīki) (ca. 400 BCE, northern India) is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic,
RamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is attributed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon . The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India, the other being Mahabharata...
, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the
Adi Kavi, which means
First Poet, for he discovered the first
ślokaThe Sanskrit term ' specifically denotes a metered and often rhymed poetic verse or phrase. Shloka has become equated with Hindu prayer and is often comparable to a proverb and hymn of praise to be sung or chanted in liturgy. Shloka are generally composed in a specified meter, typically part of...
i.e. first
verse, which set the base and defined the form to Sanskrit poetry. The
Yoga VasisthaYoga Vasistha , also known as Vasistha's Yoga, was narrated by sage Vasistha, one of the teachers of Rama, and written by Valmiki. As the name suggests, "Yoga" means union - with the Truth, and "Vasistha" was the sage who has imparted this knowledge.The book has been dated between the 5th and 14th...
is also attributed to him.
There is also a religious movement based on Valmiki's teachings as presented in the Ramayana and the Yoga Vasistha called
ValmikismValmiki is a religion of India and Pakistan whose members revere Valmiki as the avatar of God. It is practiced by some Dalit or Harijan communities in the Indian state of Punjab, India and also in Pakistan....
.
At least by the 1st century CE, Valmiki's reputation as the father of Indian poetry seems to have been already legendary as Ashvagosha writes in the
BuddhacaritaBuddhacarita is an epic poem in the Sanskrit mahakavya style on the life of Gautama Buddha by , composed in the 2nd century AD...
,
- "The voice of Valmiki uttered poetry which the great seer Chyavana
In Hindu mythology, Chyavana was a great sage, who had done penances for several years. He was powerful enough to oppose the Vajra of Indra and was responsible for the Ashwini Kumaras getting their share of the sacrificial offerings. See the story about his creation, Mada.He was married to...
could not compose."
(Also, this verse seems to indicate a belief in some relation between Valmiki and Chyavana as the preceding and following verses recount similar instances of original geniuses whose achievements could not be made by their fathers or ancestors.)
Ramayana
The
, originally written by Valmiki, consists of 24,000 verses in six cantos (some say seven i.e. including the Uttara Ramayana) (
). The Ramayana tells the story of a prince,
RamaRama or Ramachandra is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a legendary king of Ayodhya in ancient India...
of
AyodhyaAyodhya is an ancient city of India, the old capital of Awadh, in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya is described as the birth place of Hindu god Shri Ram, and the capital of Kosala Kingdom. This Hindu holy city is described as early as in the Hindu Epics. During the time of Gautama...
, whose wife
SitaSITA is a multinational information technology company specialising in providing IT and telecommunication services to the aviation industry. Originally known as the Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, the company no longer uses this long name and is now known simply as...
is abducted by the demon (
RākshasaA Rakshasa or alternately rakshas, is a demon or unrighteous spirit in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Rakshasas are also called man-eaters or cannibals...
) king of
LankaLanka is the name given in Hindu mythology to the island fortress capital of the legendary king Ravana in the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, and is the ancient name for present day Sri Lanka. The fortress was situated in a plateau between three mountain peaks known as the Trikuta Mountains...
,
RāvanaRavana is a character in Hindu and Srilankan history, a powerful legendary king who ruled in Ancient Lanka and is the primary antagonist in the Ramayan epic....
. The Valmiki Ramayana is dated variously from 500 BC to 100 BC, or about co-eval with early versions of the
MahabhārataThe Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the . The epic is part of the Hindu itihāsa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
. As with most traditional epics, since it has gone through a long process of interpolations and redactions it is impossible to date it accurately.
The first śloka
Valmiki was going to the river Ganga for his daily ablutions. A disciple by the name
BharadwajaBharadwaja was one of the greatest Hindu sages descendant of rishi Angirasa, whose accomplishments are detailed in the Puranas....
was carrying his clothes. On the way, they came across the
TamasaTamasa also known as Tons, is a river which flows through the Ganga River Basin, in Madhya Pradesh and then Uttar Pradesh, India, and is a tributary of the Ganges River, which is meets near Ballia.- Mythology :...
Stream. Looking at the stream, Valmiki said to his disciple, "Look, how clear is this water, like the mind of a good man! I will bathe here today." When he was looking for a suitable place to step into the stream, he heard sweet chirping of birds. Looking up, he saw two birds flying together. Valmiki felt very pleased on seeing the happy bird couple. Suddenly, one of the birds fell down hit by an arrow; it was the male bird. Seeing the wounded one, its mate screamed in agony. Valmiki's heart melted at this pitiful sight. He looked around to find out who had shot the bird. He saw a hunter with a bow and arrows, nearby. The hunter had shot the bird for food. Valmiki became very angry. His lips opened and he uttered the following words:
- mā niṣāda pratiṣṭhāṁ tvamagamaḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ
- yat krauñcamithunādekam avadhīḥ kāmamohitam
- "Oh! Ill-fated Hunter, by which reason you have killed one male bird of the couple, when it is in its lustful passion,
- thereby you will get an ever-lasting reputation for ages to come..."
This was the first śloka in
Sanskrit literatureLiterature in Sanskrit begins with the Vedas, and continues with the Sanskrit Epics of Iron Age India; the golden age of Classical Sanskrit literature dates to late Antiquity . Literary production saw a late bloom in the 11th century before declining after 1100 AD...
. Later Valmiki composed the entire Ramayana with the blessings of
Lord BrahmaBrahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. He is not to be confused with the Supreme Cosmic Spirit in Hindu Vedanta philosophy known as Brahman. Brahmā's consort is Saraswati, the goddess of learning...
in the same meter that issued forth from him as a śloka. Thus this śloka is revered as the "first śloka" in
HinduA Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, a set of religious, philosophical and cultural systems that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The vast body of Hindu scriptures, divided into Śruti and Smriti , lay the foundation of Hindu beliefs which primarily include dhárma, kárma, ahimsa and saṃsāra...
literature. Valmiki is revered as the first poet, or
Adi Kavi, and the Ramayana, the first
kavyaKavya refers to the Sanskrit literary style used by Indian court poets flourishing from the first half of the seventh century A.D. This literary style is charasterised by abundant usage of figures of speech, metaphors, similes, and hyperbole to create its emotional effects...
.
His first disciples to whom he taught the Ramayana were
Kusha and
Lava the sons of Rama.
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