How the Ramayan Began: Valmiki and Narad

Near the river Tamasa stood the ashram of the sage Valmiki. Popular tradition says he was once a robber named Ratnakar who met the sage Narad, began chanting Ram's name, and meditated so deeply that an anthill grew over his body. An anthill is called ‘valmika’ in Sanskrit, and so he came to be known as Valmiki.

One day the divine sage Narad visited his ashram. Valmiki asked him, ‘Who in this world today is virtuous and brave, knows dharma, speaks the truth and never breaks his word?’ Narad smiled and said, ‘There is one such person: Shri Ram of the Ikshvaku dynasty.’ Then he told Valmiki the whole story of Ram in brief.

After Narad left, Valmiki went to bathe on the bank of the Tamasa. On a tree sat a pair of krauncha birds, happy together. Suddenly a hunter shot an arrow, and the male bird fell to the ground, struggling. Hearing the female bird's pitiful cries, the sage's heart filled with sorrow.

In that sorrow, a curse came from his lips on its own. But it was no ordinary sentence. It was a beautiful verse with rhythm and metre. Valmiki himself was amazed that grief had turned into a shloka. Tradition calls it the first verse of poetry in the world, and calls Valmiki the ‘Adi Kavi’, the first poet.

Then Brahma, the creator, appeared before him. He said, ‘This verse came from you by my will. In this same metre, write the whole story of Shri Ram. As long as mountains and rivers remain on earth, people will hear this story.’ And so Valmiki composed the Ramayan, an epic of twenty-four thousand verses.