Valmiki

Maharishi Valmiki
Maharishi Valmiki composing the Ramayana.
Philosophy	Religious movement called Valmikism is based on Valmiki's teachings.
Titles/honors	Revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka.
Composed Ramayana

Maharishi Valmiki (Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, vālmīki) (during Lord Rama's time)^[1] is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself.^[2] He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e. first verse, which set the base and defined the form to Sanskrit poetry.

At least by the 1st century AD, Valmiki's reputation as the father of Sanskrit classical poetry seems to have been legendary.

1. ↑ Julia Leslie, Authority and Meaning in Indian Religions: Hinduism and the Case of Valmiki, Ashgate (2003), p. 154. ISBN 0754634310
2. ↑ Vālmīki, Robert P. Goldman (1990). The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: An Epic of Ancient India. Vol. 1. Princeton University Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 069101485X.