Valmiki

Valmiki is the legendary Sanskrit poet traditionally credited with composing the Ramayana, one of South Asia’s foundational epic poems.

Ramayana: An ancient Sanskrit epic recounting Rama’s exile, the abduction of Sita, and her rescue. Valmiki is traditionally named as its composer.
Sanskrit epic poetry: A long-form poetic tradition in Sanskrit, including the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Valmiki’s poem is a foundational work within this tradition.
Rama: A prince and avatar of Vishnu who is the central hero of the Ramayana. Valmiki’s epic makes Rama the central figure of its narrative.
Ramcharitmanas: Tulsidas’s sixteenth-century Awadhi retelling of the Ramayana story. It became a major vernacular counterpart to the Sanskrit epic attributed to Valmiki.
Valmiki Ramayana: The Sanskrit epic tradition attributed to Valmiki, preserved in multiple recensions. This is the work most directly associated with his name.
Shloka: A Sanskrit verse form, usually composed of two eight-syllable lines. Tradition connects the form’s poetic use with Valmiki’s first verse.
Sita: Rama’s wife in the Ramayana, whose abduction and return drive much of the epic’s plot. Her story is central to the poem traditionally attributed to Valmiki.
Kamba Ramayanam: A medieval Tamil epic retelling of the Ramayana by the poet Kamban. It adapts the narrative associated with Valmiki within Tamil literary culture.
Ramayana recensions: Different textual forms of the Ramayana preserved through manuscript and oral traditions. Their variations complicate the idea of a single, fixed authored text.
Sanskrit: An ancient Indo-Aryan language used in classical literature, ritual, and scholarship. The Ramayana attributed to Valmiki is composed in Sanskrit.

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