User talk:49.201.224.179/Maharishi Valmiki
Valmiki | |
|---|---|
 Valmiki composing the Ramayana. | |
| Honors | Revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka. |
| Notes | |
Composed Ramayana and Yoga Vasistha | |
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. Ashvagosha writes in the Buddhacarita:
- "The voice of Valmiki uttered poetry which the great seer Chyavana could not compose."
This particular verse has been speculated to indicate a familial relationship between Valmiki and Chyavana, as implied by the previous and subsequent verses.[3][4]
- ^ Julia Leslie, Authority and Meaning in Indian Religions: Hinduism and the Case of Valmiki, Ashgate (2003), p. 154. ISBN 0754634310
- ^ Vālmīki, Robert P. Goldman (1990). The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: An Epic of Ancient India. Vol. 1. Princeton University Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 069101485X.
- ^ E. B. Cowell, tr., The Buddhacharita of Asvagosha, Book I, Verse 48. Clarendon Press (1894)
- ^ Ilapvuluri Panduranga Rao, Valmiki, Sahitya Akademi, India (1994) - Makers of Indian Literature - ISBN 8172016808