Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, romanized: Vālmīki, lit. 'from an anthill', [ʋɑːlmiːki]) was a legendary poet and Hindu maharishi (sage) who is celebrated as the traditional author of the smriti epic Ramayana, one of Hinduism's two Itihasas, based on the attribution in the text itself. He is revered as Ādi Kavi (Sanskrit: आदिकवि), 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). 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.
Keep every book you read and the lines you loved, scan your shelf in seconds, and read along with three monthly book clubs. Free on iPhone, Android and the web.
Author
