Valmiki | |
---|---|
![]() Sage Valmiki composing the Ramayana | |
Personal | |
Born | Agni Sharma |
Religion | Hinduism |
Parent |
|
Lineage | Rama Mantraraj[1] (mentioned by Govindaraja) |
Movement | Dharmic movement called Valmikism is based on Valmiki's teachings |
Notable work(s) | Ramayana Yoga Vasistha Valmiki Samhita |
Known for | Composing the Ramayana Guru of Lava and Kusha Avatar of Brahma |
Honors |
|
Valmiki (/vɑːlˈmiːki/;[2] Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, romanized: Vālmīki, [ʋɑːlmiːki])[A] was a legendary poet who is celebrated as the traditional author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text itself.[3][5] He is revered as Ādi Kavi, the first poet, author of Ramayana, the first epic poem.
The Ramayana, originally written by Valmiki, consists of 24,000 shlokas and seven cantos (kaṇḍas).[6] The Ramayana is composed of about 480,002 words, being a quarter of the length of the full text of the Mahabharata or about four times the length of the Iliad. The Ramayana tells the story of a prince, Rama of the city of Ayodhya in the Kingdom of Kosala, whose wife Sita is abducted by Ravana, the demon-king (Rakshasa) of Lanka. The scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE,[7][8] and later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE,[9] although original date of composition is unknown. As with many traditional epics, it has gone through a process of interpolations and redactions, making it impossible to date accurately.
British satirist Aubrey Menen says that Valmiki was "recognized as a literary genius," and thus was considered, "an outlaw," presumably because of his "philosophic scepticism,"[10] as part of an "Indian Enlightenment" period.[11] Valmiki is also quoted as being the contemporary of Rama. Menen claims Valmiki is "the first author in all history to bring himself into his own composition."[12]
Cite error: There are <ref group=upper-alpha>
tags or {{efn-ua}}
templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=upper-alpha}}
template or {{notelist-ua}}
template (see the help page).