Valmiki is the Indian seer, or rishi, credited with
creating the epic Ramayana. Because of his long
practice of penance and seclusion in his retreat by
the river Tamasa, Valmiki earned the title of Maharshi,
“maha” meaning great. He is celebrated as
the first poet to compose in Sanskrit, and his Ramayana
is considered the first real poem of India.
Legend surrounds Valmiki and the creation of
his EPIC work. Some stories have it that he started
life as a robber but saw the error of his ways and
became spiritually devout. According to tradition,
Valmiki was walking along the river Tamasa one
day and watched a pair of lovebirds nesting together
in a tree.When a hunter approached and
killed one of the birds,Valmiki was so shocked and
distressed that he cried out, cursing the hunter,
“Thou shalt never command any respect in society
for years to come as you have shot dead one of the
innocent birds engrossed in love.”Upon considering
his statement,Valmiki realized that, in the Sanskrit
tongue, he had spoken four rhythmic lines of
eight syllables each, which closely resembled the
meter of Vedic literature. He decided to call this
poetic meter the sloka and use it as the form in
which to tell an epic tale of love, devotion, separation,
and sacrifice. Inspired by the god Brahma and
the sage Narada, who first told him the story of
Rama as a model of humanity and kingship,
Valmiki composed the first and most beloved
poem of Indian history.
In the tradition of Sanskrit literature, the Ramayana
is thought to closely follow the Vedas and
thus is of an earlier date than the PURANA or the MAHABHARATA,
the longest and most ornate of epics.
Like other ancient poems, the Ramayana most
likely first existed as a collection of stories passed
along by storytellers who recited the poem by
heart. Valmiki, though considered the poet, may
never have put his work into written form. Scholars
of Indian literature have debated at length
about the date of composition, and no firm consensus
has yet been reached. Tradition places the
poet at the dawn of history, shortly after the
Aryans began to migrate into what is now India.
The majority of Ramayana scholars believe from
various archaeological and other literary evidence
that Valmiki, and Rama, lived sometime between
the seventh and 11th centuries B.C. A genealogy of
kings, which exists in the Purana, cites Rama as an
actual prince of the Ikshavaku dynasty, but no
dates are given.
The poem has been so extensively revised, extended,
and transcribed that distinguishing the
original subject matter devised by Valmiki from
the later additions becomes simply an argument of
style. Scholar C. V. Vaidya believes that sometime
in the first century B.C., the poem was rewritten
and recompiled into the form in which it exists
today. Originally the poem celebrated Rama as a
great man and the best of kings. The first-century
additions and adaptations reflect the evolving beliefs
concerning the avatars, or incarnations, of the
god Vishnu. In Hindu tradition, the gods incarnated
in human form to provide models for right
living and intervene in certain affairs. In the Mahabharata,
the god Vishnu incarnated as Krishna to
help Arjuna win his great battle. After the composition
of the Mahabharata, it was seen that Rama
had been the god Vishnu in a different, previous
form that had come to earth expressly to conquer
the demonic tyrant Ravana. Scribes embellished
the text of the Ramayana to reflect that belief.
Most critics accept the attribution of the Ramayana
to Valmiki because the poet appears in two
places in the action of the epic itself. In the first,
during their exile in the forest, Rama, his wife Sita,
and his brother Lakshmana visit Valmiki in his remote
hermitage and converse with him. Later, after
Rama has been restored to the throne but has had
to banish Sita on suspicion of infidelity, Valmiki
brings two young boys, Lava and Kusha, to court.
The boys sing the story of Rama, and Valmiki then
reveals that these two are the sons of Rama and
Sita. Both of these instances, however, create confusion
when compared to the rest of the poem. If
Sita and Rama visited Valmiki in the woods, then
he presumably already knew their story and would
not need Narada to explain it to him. Also, the revelation
of Rama’s sons and Sita’s final trial take
place in the last portion of the work, which some
scholars believe is a later addition or appendix and
not the work of Valmiki himself. Similar contradictions
and confusions appear throughout the
poem, most likely due to its age and the number
of people who have contributed to its retelling. As
an example of poetic literature, the Ramayana
nevertheless stands as a work of great beauty and
extraordinary influence.
Critical Analysis
Though the Ramayana can be appreciated as simply
an epic story, along the lines of the SHAHNAMEH
of Persia or the German NIBELUNGENLIED, it
is, as scholar V. Sitaramiah says, “a great literary
and poetical document.”More than just the life or
adventures (ayana) of Rama, the Ramayana documents
philosophical insights and human truths.
Like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana is concerned
with the Hindu concept of dharma, which
means not only duty but also right conduct. The
conduct of Rama is considered an excellent example
of following dharma because Rama embodies
all of the virtues of the ideal man: He is
modest of nature, physically able, intellectually
brilliant, and spiritually aware. He shows compassion
and consideration for all beings, is balanced
in his emotions, accepts any challenge that
will benefit the general good, and demonstrates
complete reverence for and obedience to his elders.
A fitting companion, his wife Sita, in her turn,
embodies all the virtues of the ideal woman. She
is described as “proud and peerless,” surpassingly
beautiful, and steadfastly faithful. Rama wins her
in true epic fashion by performing a mighty feat:
He breaks a bow that no other suitor had been
able to bend, thus showing himself worthy of her
hand.
The adventures of Rama and Sita commence
with his willing exile into the forest. Rama is the
son of King Dasarath and destined to become the
next ruler of Kosala and its capital city, Ayodhya.
One of the king’s wives, Kaikeyi, convinces
Dasarath that her son Bharata should rule.
Though all are distressed by the king’s decision,
Rama cheerfully obliges the will of his father and
prepares to go into exile. Sita and Lakshmana insist
on going with him. For 10 years they live
peacefully and idyllically, until the demon Ravana
decides to capture Sita. Through a series of deceits, he manages to fly away with her to his island
country of Lanka, where he holds her prisoner.
Rama is joined in his search by the creatures of the
forest. He and his army of forest dwellers attack
Ravana, and the poem recounts in detail every
blow of the battle that follows. In the end, Rama
vanquishes Ravana, and Sita undergoes a trial by
fire to prove that she was faithful to her husband
throughout her imprisonment. The original portion
of the Ramayana concludes with Rama and
Sita returning to Adodhya and ascending the
throne in triumph:
Fourteen years of woe were ended, Rama
now assumed his own,
And they placed the weary wand’rer on his
father’s ancient throne.
Some modern translations include the last
chapter, though it is considered spurious, where
Sita is banished once more and bears her children
in exile. Valmiki brings them to court,
where they sing the epic, and in the dramatic
confrontation between Sita and her husband,
the earth opens and swallows Sita as the final
proof of her innocence. Thereafter, Rama, who
remains unmarried, has a golden image of Sita
made, which he places beside him on her
throne.
The Ramayana of India appears in other literatures
of Southeast Asia, including the Buddhist
Dasartha JATAKA and the Ramakien of Thailand.
The Raghuvamsa of KALIDASA and the Ramcharitmanas
of Tulsidas both draw from the Ramayana.
Professor Wardiman Djojonegoro of Indonesia
concludes that the Ramayana manages to cross
many borders and many centuries because the
essence of the story remains a “universal source of
inspiration.” He writes: “The Rama story articulates
and projects a set of moral and ethical values,
against which we can evaluate our own human existence.
. . . It opens vistas that enable us to enrich
our own lives.”
English Versions of a Work by
Maharshi Valmiki
Ramayana. Translated by William Buck. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2000.
Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian
Epic. Translated by Ramesh Menon. New York:
North Point Press, 2004.
Ramayana: India’s Immortal Tale of Love, Adventure,
and Wisdom. Translated by Krishna Dharma. Los
Angeles: Torchlight Publishing, 2000.
Works about Maharshi Valmiki
Blank, Jonah. Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God: Tracing
the Ramayana Through India. New York: Grove
Press, 2000.
Rao, I. Panduranga. Valmiki. New Delhi: Sahitya
Akademi, 1994.