27th October, 2015 is the MAHARISHI VALMIKI JAYANTI

27^th October, 2015 is the MAHARISHI VALMIKI JAYANTI. Valmiki is celebrated as the harbinger-poet in sanskrit literatures. He lived in the first millennium BCE. Valmiki is author of the Greatest Indian Epic Ramayan, the story of the Prince of Ayodhya, Bhagwan Shri Ram. He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which translates to First Poet, for he invented Sloka (i.e. first verse or epic metre), which set the base and defined the form to sanskrit poetry.

The Uttara Kanda, last of seven books of Ramayan, tells the story of Valmiki's early life as a highway robber named Ratnakar, who used to rob people for the benefit of his family. Once upon a time, robber Ratnakar tried to rob the divine sage Narad. Narad asked him if his family would share the sin he was incurring due to the robbery. The robber replied positively, but Devarshi Narad told him to confirm this with his family. The robber asked his family, but none agreed to bear the burden of sin. Dejected, Ratnakar finally understood the truth of life and asked for divine rishi Narad's forgiveness. Narad taught robber the mantra for salvation. Devarishi Narad told him to chant "Rama" Naam Mantra. The robber Ratnakar meditated for many years of so much so that the ant-hills grew around his body and he chanted “Mara”, the phonetic anagram of "Rama", instead of “Rama”. Finally, a divine voice declared his penance successful, bestowing him with the name Valmiki, "one born out of ant-hills" (Valmikam in sanskrit means ant-hill).

Maharshi Valmiki is also quoted to be the contemporary of Shri Ram. Bhagwan Shri Ram met Valmiki during his period of exile and interacted with him. Valmiki gave shelter to Sita in his hermitage when Ram banished her. Luv & Kush the twin sons of Shri Ram were born to Sita in this hermitage. Valmiki taught Ramayan to Luv & Kush, who later sang the divine story in Ayodhya during the Ashwamegha Yajna congregation. Later, he summoned them to his royal palace. Luv & Kush sang the story of Shri Ram there, and Shri Ram confirmed that whatever had been sung by these two children was entirely true.

Srimad Valmiki Ramayan is composed of verses called Sloka in sanskrit language, which is an ancient language from India and a complex meter called Anustup. These verses are grouped into individual chapters called Sargas, wherein a specific event or intent is told. These chapters or sargas are grouped into books called Kaandas where Kanda means the inter-node stem of sugar cane, or also a particular phase of the story or an event in the course of story telling.

Thus the structure of Srimad Valmiki Ramayan is arranged into seven Kandas or Books and they are :-

(1) Bala Kanda (Book of Youth) [77 chapters]

(2) Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) [119 chapters]

(3) Aranya Kanda (Book of Forest) [75 chapters]

(4) Kishkindha Kanda (The Empire of Holy Monkeys) [67 chapters]

(5) Sundara Kanda (Book of Beauty) [68 chapters]

(6) Yuddha Kanda or Lanka Kanda (Book of War) [128 chapters]

(7) Uttara Kaṇḍa or Uttara Ramayan (Book of Luv-Kush).

The Ramayan, originally written by Valmiki, consists of 23,000 Slokas and 7 Cantos (Kandas). Ramayan is composed of about 480,002 words.