Back فالميكي Arabic বাল্মীকি Assamese Valmiki AST Walmiki BAN Валмики Bulgarian वाल्मीकि Bihari বাল্মীকি Bengali/Bangla Valmiki Catalan Válmíki Czech Valmiki German
Valmiki | |
|---|---|
 Sage Valmiki composing the Ramayana | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Agni Sharma |
| Parent |
|
| Notable work(s) | Ramayana Yoga Vasistha Valmiki Samhita |
| Known for | Composing the Ramayana Guru of Lava and Kusha Avatar of Brahma |
| Honors |
|
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Lineage | Rama Mantraraj[1] (mentioned by Govindaraja) |
| Movement | Dharmic movement called Valmikism is based on Valmiki's teachings |
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]
- ^ Srinivasha Shastri. Ramayana of Valmiki-With Three Ancient Commentaries-: Tilaka of Rama, Ramayanasiromani of Sivasahaya and Bhusana of Govindaraja. p. 9.
- ^ "Valmiki" Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
- ^ a b Encyclopaedia of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Institute for Sustainable Development. 2000. p. 479. ISBN 978-81-261-0655-4.
- ^ O'Brien, John (2006). The Construction of Pakistani Christian Identity. Research Society of Pakistan. p. 125. ISBN 978-969-425-096-0.
- ^ Valmiki, Robert P. Goldman (1990). The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India. Vol. 1. Princeton University Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 0-691-01485-X.
- ^ "Valmiki Ramayan". valmikiramayan.net. Desiraju Hanumanta Rao & K. M. K. Murthy. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Goldman 1984, p. 20–22.
- ^ Pattanaik, Devdutt (8 August 2020). "Was Ram born in Ayodhya". mumbaimirror. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
- ^ J. L. Brockington (1998). The Sanskrit Epics. BRILL. pp. 379–. ISBN 90-04-10260-4.
- ^ Menen, Aubrey (1954). "Introduction", The Ramayana, p.4. Charles Scribner's Sons: New York. [ISBN unspecified]. LCCN 54-35716.
- ^ Menen (1954). "The Indian Enlightenment", p.9.
- ^ Menen (1954). "The Heritage of the Gluttons", p.81.
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