Valmiki Ramayanam Part 01

Author(s): Amar Publication
Publisher: Amar Publication

Page 7

Introduction
The Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahabharata are the two great epics (Maha-Kavyas) which served as the two formidable pillars on which rests the edifice of the Indian culture. Of these two, the Rāmāyapa deals with Rama's victory over Ravana. The Rāmāyaṇa of Valmiki was meant to give a better tone to religion and to some characteristics of Indian society. It was so comprehensive that it expressed the thoughts and experiences of a whole nation, as it developed with progress of time. Like the primeval and everlasting banyan (Akşayavata) tree it gave its pleasant shade to the Aryans.
The ancient and modern scholars accept it as the Adi-Kavya written by the famous poet (Adi-Kavi) Välmiki who by his intellect sharpened by the power of penance, surpassed even the preceptor of gods, Brhaspati. It contains the life history of Rama from his birth to his final conquest of Lanka and his coronation on his return to Ayodhya. The Rāmāyaṇa is not only a narrative poem of the history of the life of Rama but is also considered to be the
first ornate poem of classical Sanskrit. At the end of every canto, it is called an Adi-Kävye-Iti Adi-Kavye prathamah Sargah. The division of the later mahakavyas into sargas cantos) was based on the model of the Rāmāyaṇa. The main object of a poem is to afford aesthetic pleasure which is technically called Rasa by the rhetoricians. It is predominantly a poem of pathos (Karupa-rasa). As a matter of fact its composition was inspired by the sentiment of pathos which suddenly overwhelmed the mind of the poet Valmiki, the author, when he saw one of the loving pair of Krauñcas killed by an arrow of the hunter. The poet at once burst out saying"
Ma nishada pratistham tvam agamaḥ sasvati samaḥ/ Yat Kraulica-mithunad ekam avadhi kämamohitam ||
Acharya Shri Kalassagarsuri Gyanmandir
"Let not glory attend thee, O fowler for eternal years to come for thou hast killed one of the pair of curlews infatuated with love".