Authors: Vālmīki

Indian poet

Poetry:

Rāmāyana, c. 500 b.c.e. (The Ramayana, 1870-1874)

Vālmīki (vahl-MEE-kee) is one of those ancient authors who tantalize scholars because so little is known or can be known about them. According to Hindu tradition, Vālmīki lived in 867,000 b.c.e.; Westernized scholars have offered their own guesses ranging from about 700 b.c.e. to approximately 500 c.e. Vālmīki may be a legend that people long ago created to account for a great work of literature. The traditional story is that Vālmīki was a highway robber. Priests told him to ask his family, whom he supported through his thefts, whether they would be willing to share in hell the torments he would reap for his sins. His relatives declined. Distraught, he again consulted the priests, who told him to repeat the holy syllables “ma” and “rā.” Immobile, he complied while an anthill (valmīka) slowly arose around him (the source of his name). A thousand years later, the priests returned. Only then did Vālmīki realize that he had been chanting the name Rāma. Thereafter, to Vālmīki came Nārada, the messenger of the gods, who recited to the now-holy man the virtues and adventures of Rāma, the ideal hero and an incarnation of Vishnu. When he had heard the tale, Vālmīki mourned that he had no poetic power to pass on the tale to other men, until one day he saw a hunter kill a heron. Moved by his pity for the bird and his anger at the man, Vālmīki began to express himself in Sanskrit poetry. While he was reciting slokas, the god Brahmā appeared and ordered Vālmīki to use his newfound poetic power to sing of Rāma, his love for Sītā, and Rāma’s victory over the demons. The story of Rāma is famous and has been retold many times, regardless of whoever may have composed it first. Later renditions of the Ramayana include Kshmendra’s Ramayana-Kathasara-Manjari, Bhoja’s Ramayana-Champu, and Tulsīdās’s Ram-Charit-Manas. While Vālmīki may or may not have ever lived, the poem attributed to him still holds meaning for its readers. Untold millions of people in India and beyond have found inspiration and pleasure in the Ramayana.{$I[AN]9810000322}{$I[A]V{amacr}lm{imacr}ki[Valmiki]}{$I[geo]INDIA;V{am acr}lm{imacr}ki[Valmiki]}{$I[tim]0500 b.c.e.;V{amacr}lm{imacr}ki[Valmiki]}