News Excerpt:
Recently, Prime Minister inaugurated the newly built Maharishi Valmiki Airport in Ayodhya, U.P..
About Maharishi Valimiki:
- He is referred to as Adi Kavi, or the “first/original poet” in Sanskrit.
- This is because he is credited to having composed the Ramayana, believed to be the first epic poem in the Sanskrit literary tradition.
- Ramayana is frequently described as the first consciously literary composition, the adi-kavya.
- Valmiki’s Ramayana is divided into 7 cantos or kandas, each telling a different part of Lord Ram’s story.
- Valmiki himself makes an appearance in the Bala and Uttara Kandas, the first and last chapters of the epic.
- There is a prevailing, highly contested debate surrounding the caste of Sage Valmiki.
- A number of scheduled castes, across the country, trace their lineage to the sage.
- At the same time, certain scriptural sources identify him as a Brahmin.
- In 2016, the Karnataka government set up a 14-member committee to determine the caste of Valmiki, after a book titled Valmiki Yaru? (Who is Valmiki?) written by Kannada writer kicked up a storm in the state.
- Prior to becoming a sage, Valmiki was known as Ratnakar, and was a feared dacoit and hunter.
- While some versions of the story claim that he was actually born to a Brahmin before getting lost in the forest and adopted by a hunter couple, more subaltern versions of the story claim that he was born to a Bhil king.
- Either way, he would make a living by robbing villagers and travellers.
- Valmiki Jayanti celebrated every year is also known as Pargat Diwas.
- According to the Hindu calendar, it falls on the full moon day of the month of Ashwin, which corresponds to September-October in the Gregorian calendar.
