Ramayana. The Story of Rama as told by Valmiki.
One day the hermit Valmiki inquired of the great rishi Narada whether he could tell of any man living perfect in goodliness, virtue, courage, and benevolence. Then Narada related to him all the story that is now called the Ramayana, for such a man as Valmiki desired to hear of was the great Rama.
Valmiki returned to his forest hut. As he passed through the woods he saw a bird-man and a bird-woman singing and dancing. But at that very moment a wicked hunter shot the bird-man with an arrow so that he died, and his mate bewailed him long and bitterly. Then the hermit was moved by pity and anger, and cursed the hunter and passed on. But as he walked on, his words recurred to him, and he found that they formed a couplet in a new metre: "Let this be called a shloka," he said.
Soon after he reached his hut there appeared to him the four-faced shining Brahma, the Creator of the World. Him Valmiki worshipped; but the unhappy bird-man and the new-made shloka filled his thoughts. Then Brahma addressed him with a smile: "It was by my will that those words came from thy mouth; that metre shall be very famous hereafter. Do thou compose in it the whole history of Rama; relate, O wise one, both all that is known and all that is as yet unknown to thee of Rama and Lakshmana and Janaka's daughter, and all the tribe of rakshasas. What is unknown shall be revealed to thee, and the poem shall be true from the first word to the last. Moreover, this thy Ramayana shall spread abroad amongst men so long as the mountains and the seas endure." So saying, Brahma vanished.
Then Valmiki, dwelling in the hermitage amongst his disciples, set himself to make the great Ramayan, that bestows on all who hear it righteousness and wealth and fulfillment of desire, as well as the severing of ties. He sought deeper insight into the story he had heard from Narada, and thereto took his seat according to yoga ritual, and addressed himself to ponder on that subject and no other. Then by his yoga-powers he beheld Rama and Sita, Lakshman, and Dasharatha with his wives in his kingdom, laughing and talking, bearing and forbearing, doing and undoing as in real life, as clearly as one might see a fruit held in the palm of the hand. He perceived not only what had been, but what was to come. Then only, after concentrated meditation, when the whole story lay like a picture in his mind, he began to shape it into shlokas, of which, when it was finished, there were no less than twenty-four thousand. Then he reflected how it might be published abroad. For this he chose Kusi and Lava, the accomplished sons of Rama and Sita, who lived in the forest hermitage, and were learned in the Vedas, in music and recitation and every art, and very fair to see. To them Valmiki taught the whole Ramayana till they could recite it perfectly from beginning to end, so that those who heard them seemed to see everything told of in the story passing before their eyes. Afterward the brothers went to Rama's city of Ayodhya, where Rama found and entertained them, thinking them to be hermits; and there before the whole court the Ramayana was first recited in public.
One day the hermit Valmiki inquired of the great rishi Narada whether he could tell of any man living perfect in goodliness, virtue, courage, and benevolence. Then Narada related to him all the story that is now called the Ramayana, for such a man as Valmiki desired to hear of was the great Rama.
Valmiki returned to his forest hut. As he passed through the woods he saw a bird-man and a bird-woman singing and dancing. But at that very moment a wicked hunter shot the bird-man with an arrow so that he died, and his mate bewailed him long and bitterly. Then the hermit was moved by pity and anger, and cursed the hunter and passed on. But as he walked on, his words recurred to him, and he found that they formed a couplet in a new metre: "Let this be called a shloka," he said.
Soon after he reached his hut there appeared to him the four-faced shining Brahma, the Creator of the World. Him Valmiki worshipped; but the unhappy bird-man and the new-made shloka filled his thoughts. Then Brahma addressed him with a smile: "It was by my will that those words came from thy mouth; that metre shall be very famous hereafter. Do thou compose in it the whole history of Rama; relate, O wise one, both all that is known and all that is as yet unknown to thee of Rama and Lakshmana and Janaka's daughter, and all the tribe of rakshasas. What is unknown shall be revealed to thee, and the poem shall be true from the first word to the last. Moreover, this thy Ramayana shall spread abroad amongst men so long as the mountains and the seas endure." So saying, Brahma vanished.
Then Valmiki, dwelling in the hermitage amongst his disciples, set himself to make the great Ramayan, that bestows on all who hear it righteousness and wealth and fulfillment of desire, as well as the severing of ties. He sought deeper insight into the story he had heard from Narada, and thereto took his seat according to yoga ritual, and addressed himself to ponder on that subject and no other. Then by his yoga-powers he beheld Rama and Sita, Lakshman, and Dasharatha with his wives in his kingdom, laughing and talking, bearing and forbearing, doing and undoing as in real life, as clearly as one might see a fruit held in the palm of the hand. He perceived not only what had been, but what was to come. Then only, after concentrated meditation, when the whole story lay like a picture in his mind, he began to shape it into shlokas, of which, when it was finished, there were no less than twenty-four thousand. Then he reflected how it might be published abroad. For this he chose Kusi and Lava, the accomplished sons of Rama and Sita, who lived in the forest hermitage, and were learned in the Vedas, in music and recitation and every art, and very fair to see. To them Valmiki taught the whole Ramayana till they could recite it perfectly from beginning to end, so that those who heard them seemed to see everything told of in the story passing before their eyes. Afterward the brothers went to Rama's city of Ayodhya, where Rama found and entertained them, thinking them to be hermits; and there before the whole court the Ramayana was first recited in public.
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One day the hermit Valmiki inquired of the great rishi Narada whether he could tell of any man living perfect in goodliness, virtue, courage, and benevolence. Then Narada related to him all the story that is now called the Ramayana, for such a man as Valmiki desired to hear of was the great Rama.
Valmiki returned to his forest hut. As he passed through the woods he saw a bird-man and a bird-woman singing and dancing. But at that very moment a wicked hunter shot the bird-man with an arrow so that he died, and his mate bewailed him long and bitterly. Then the hermit was moved by pity and anger, and cursed the hunter and passed on. But as he walked on, his words recurred to him, and he found that they formed a couplet in a new metre: "Let this be called a shloka," he said.
Soon after he reached his hut there appeared to him the four-faced shining Brahma, the Creator of the World. Him Valmiki worshipped; but the unhappy bird-man and the new-made shloka filled his thoughts. Then Brahma addressed him with a smile: "It was by my will that those words came from thy mouth; that metre shall be very famous hereafter. Do thou compose in it the whole history of Rama; relate, O wise one, both all that is known and all that is as yet unknown to thee of Rama and Lakshmana and Janaka's daughter, and all the tribe of rakshasas. What is unknown shall be revealed to thee, and the poem shall be true from the first word to the last. Moreover, this thy Ramayana shall spread abroad amongst men so long as the mountains and the seas endure." So saying, Brahma vanished.
Then Valmiki, dwelling in the hermitage amongst his disciples, set himself to make the great Ramayan, that bestows on all who hear it righteousness and wealth and fulfillment of desire, as well as the severing of ties. He sought deeper insight into the story he had heard from Narada, and thereto took his seat according to yoga ritual, and addressed himself to ponder on that subject and no other. Then by his yoga-powers he beheld Rama and Sita, Lakshman, and Dasharatha with his wives in his kingdom, laughing and talking, bearing and forbearing, doing and undoing as in real life, as clearly as one might see a fruit held in the palm of the hand. He perceived not only what had been, but what was to come. Then only, after concentrated meditation, when the whole story lay like a picture in his mind, he began to shape it into shlokas, of which, when it was finished, there were no less than twenty-four thousand. Then he reflected how it might be published abroad. For this he chose Kusi and Lava, the accomplished sons of Rama and Sita, who lived in the forest hermitage, and were learned in the Vedas, in music and recitation and every art, and very fair to see. To them Valmiki taught the whole Ramayana till they could recite it perfectly from beginning to end, so that those who heard them seemed to see everything told of in the story passing before their eyes. Afterward the brothers went to Rama's city of Ayodhya, where Rama found and entertained them, thinking them to be hermits; and there before the whole court the Ramayana was first recited in public.
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