Valmiki

Valmiki
Vlmki

Vlmki i composing the Rmyaa. Titles/honours Deepanshu Kulshreshtha Philosophy Dharmic movement called Valmikism is based on Valmiki's teachings. Composed Rmyaa and Yoga Vasiha

Valmiki (Sanskrit: ; Vlmki)[1] is celebrated as the harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Rmyaa, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself.[] He is revered as the di Kavi, which translates to First Poet, for he discovered the first loka i.e. first verse, which set the base and defined the form to Sanskrit poetry.

Writer of the Rmyaa

The Rmyaa, originally written by Vlmki, consists of 24,000 lokas[2] in seven cantos (some say six i.e. excluding the Uttara Rmyaa) (kas). The Rmyaa tells the story of a prince, Rma of Ayodhy, whose wife St is abducted by the Demon-King (Rkasa) of Lak, Rvaa. The Vlmki's Rmyaa is dated variously from 500 BC to 100 BC, or about co-eval with early versions of the Mahbhrata.[3] As with many traditional epics, it has gone through a long process of interpolations and redactions, making it impossible to date accurately.

Notwithstanding the aforesaid, it is pertinent to note that Vlmki is also quoted to be the contemporary of r Rma. r Rma met Vlmki during his period of exile and had interacted with him. Vlmki had St in his hermitage where Kua and Lava were born to St. Vlmki taught Rmyaa to Kua and Lava, who later sang the

The youthful sage Nrada at the white-bearded Vlmki's hermitage

Valmiki

divine story in Ayodhy during the Avamedha yaja congregation, to the pleasure of the audience, whereupon, King r Rma summoned them to his royal palace. Kua and Lava sang the story of r Rma there, and r Rma confirmed that whatever had been sung by these two children was entirely true.

St in Vlmki's hermitage

Replica of sage Valmiki at Dwaraka Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh

The first loka

Vlmki was going to the river Ganges for his daily ablutions. A disciple by the name Bharadvja was carrying his clothes. On the way, they came across the Tamasa Stream. Looking at the stream, Vlmki 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 saw a Crane (bird) couple mating. Vlmki felt very pleased on seeing the happy birds. Suddenly, hit by an arrow; the male bird died on the spot. Filled by sorrow its mate screamed in agony and died of shock. Vlmki '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. Vlmki became very angry. His lips opened and he uttered the following words: '
The Killing of Krouncha Heron

m nida pratih tvamagama vat sam

yat kraucamithundekam avadh kmamohitam[4]

Valmiki You will find no rest for the long years of Eternity For you killed a bird in love and unsuspecting[5] Emerging spontaneously from his rage and grief, this was the first loka in Sanskrit literature. Later Vlmki Muni composed the entire Rmyaa with the blessings of Lord Brahm in the same meter that issued forth from him as the loka. Thus this loka is revered as the "first loka" in Hindu literature. Vlmki Muni is revered as the first poet, or di Kavi, and the Rmyaa, the first Kvya. His first disciples to whom he taught the Rmyaa were Kua and Lava, the sons of r Rma.

Early life
Valmiki from Nepal was was a robber who stole to provide for his family. Under the name of Daku Ratnakar he would ruthlessly take the lives of animals in the forests and he has taken the lives of so many animals that he had earned the displeasure of the gods, one day a group of rishis were gathering in the forest to perform a yagna and then they witnessed Valmiki kill a deer, being brahmins killing of animals or any living creature was forbidden and so they approached Valmiki and told him that he has almost wiped all the animal species in the forest and they told him that the gods will curse him and he will be shunned by all. Valmiki was shocked and so he asked the rishis for a way out of the gods' wrath.The rishis told him to sit under a sal tree with his eyes shut and keep on reciting the syllables "marm" (if recited repeatedly it makes the sound "Rama") repeatedly until they return after finishing the yagna . And so they left Valmiki there and finished their yagna and returned home without waking up Valmiki, months later narada saw Valmiki who was still devotedly reciting "marm" and was covered with anthills because he did not move at all. He woke up Valmiki, and told him that he had earned a lot of merit and his bhakti had pleased Rama and was no less than that of a rishi. And from that day on he was devoted to Rama for the rest of his life and came to be known as Rishi Valmiki. He composed the entire Ramayana. Brahma once told Valmiki that "As long as mountains stand and as long as rivers flow, so long will your Ramayana be read by man." Vlmki's names, their origin and early life Even though it is folk lore that Vlmki was a hunter as a youth, he was in fact born to Brahmin parents and his fathers name was Prachetsa. In Vlmki's Ramayana itself he is referred as Prachetsa in this verse listed below: | || 96:16 In another verse, it is also stated that is from the lineage of the sage Bhrgava | || 94:24 Thus, it can be taken as reasonably ascertained that even though he was brought up by foster parents who were hunters, his adoption must have occurred at an age by which time, Vlmki was well aware of his lineage and his real parenthood. Legend has it that once when he was a very young boy, he wandered off into the forest while playing. His parents searched for him everywhere and being not able to find him anywhere in the nearby forest areas, finally gave up the search having concluded that they had lost their son in the dangerous parts of the forest, perhaps to some wild beast. The young boy was found by a hunter couple and brought up them as if he was their own child. They named him Ratnakara and taught him the art of hunting. Ratnakara learnt to hunt and grew up into a young lad. His parents found a suitable girl who came from a similar hunter family and married him off. As he set up his family and had children, gradually he began to feel it difficult to provide for the family by his hunting alone. Daily hunting had hardened his heart. Slowly he learnt to stop the wayfarers who happened to pass through the forest, threaten them and make them part with all their belongings and brought them to his family. His wife and children would happily partake of whatever he brought them. It is said that he had become such a terror for the animals in the forest that if he walked, the beasts would scatter away fearful of being hunted down by him. One day, he saw the seven sages walking through the forest and jumped in front of them and demanded that they part with all that they had. The seven sages were the Saptarshis who walk

Valmiki the three worlds sanctifying them with their presence. The sages looked at Vlmki with compassionate eyes and readily offered the kamandalu that they carried. They said, This is all we have and you may gladly have it. Vlmki was nonplussed by their non-resistance and the deep peace they carried. Normally when he attacked wayfarers they would struggle and sweat or fall at his feet and plead for mercy. These sages remained unperturbed by his ferocity, unmoved by his blood stained weapons and looked at him as if he were a child asking for some toy. Their stillness brought Ratnakaras rage and passion down. They asked him why he was stealing from wayfarers. Vlmki answered that he was doing it to maintain a standard of living for his family.

References
[1] Julia Leslie, Authority and Meaning in Indian Religions: Hinduism and the Case of Valmiki (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=466QEN_Av4MC), Ashgate (2003), p. 154. ISBN 0-7546-3431-0 [2] and 7 cantos{Kaas}including the Uttara canto{Kaa} is composed of about 480,002 words, a quarter of the length of the full text of the Mahbhrata or about four times the length of the Iliad. [3] Goldman, Robert P., The Rmyaa of Vlmki: An Epic of Ancient India pp. 23 [4] Sacred-Texts.com (http:/ / www. sacred-texts. com/ hin/ rys/ rys1002. htm) IAST encoded transliteration (modified from original source to accurately reflect sandhi rules) [5] Buck, William and van Nooten, B. A. Ramayana. 2000, page 7

External links
Valmiki biography webpage (http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/valmiki/) Satya Sarada Kandula, "Valmiki - Adikavi", The Ancient Indians (http://ancientindians.wordpress.com/ valmiki-adikavi/) Shastra Nethralaya, Rishikesh (http://www.Shastranethralaya.org/) Ramayana by Valmiki illustrated with Indian miniatures from the 16th to the 19th century (http://www. ramayanabook.com/)

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File:Valmiki Ramayana.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Valmiki_Ramayana.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Chaoborus, Copydays, Intelligent 1000, Mu, Redtigerxyz, Renebeto File:Narada visits Valmiki.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Narada_visits_Valmiki.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Anonymous (Indian) File:Valmiki Hermitage.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Valmiki_Hermitage.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Copydays, Redtigerxyz, Roland zh, Sreejithk2000, TheMandarin File:Replica of sage Valmiki at Dwaraka Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Replica_of_sage_Valmiki_at_Dwaraka_Tirumala,_Andhra_Pradesh.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: User:Adityamadhav83 File:The Killing of Krouncha Heron.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:The_Killing_of_Krouncha_Heron.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Balasaheb Pratinidhi

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