ENGLISH GRADE 8

• Maharshi Valmiki is referred to as Adi Kavi and considered the father of Indian Poetry
• Valmiki is famous as the author of Ramayana, which consists of 24,000 verses
• Valmiki was born to sage Prachetasa and was initially called Ratnakar
• Ratnakar got lost in the forest and was adopted by a hunter, who trained him to be an excellent hunter
• Ratnakar married a girl from the hunter's family, and as his family grew, he struggled to feed them
• To support his family, Ratnakar began looting people passing between villages
• Ratnakar attacked Sage Narada in the jungle, who questioned him about his sins for his family's maintenance
• Realizing the selfish nature of everyone, Ratnakar sought guidance from Sage Narada on attaining Absolute Truth or God
• Sage Narada advised Ratnakar to chant "Rama," but due to his sins, he couldn't, so he chanted "MA RA" instead
• After years of meditation, covered in an anthill, Ratnakar was blessed by Sage Narada and renamed Valmiki, which means Anthill
• Valmiki received visions from the God Brahma and wrote the Ramayana while staying in an ashram in the forest