Valmiki

Indian mythology · sage · poetry, redemption

The first poet, whose grief at seeing a hunter kill a crane bird burst out as the first shloka verse. A reformed highway robber in popular tradition, he composed the Ramayana and sheltered the exiled Sita in his hermitage.

Stories

Lava, Kusha, and the Song of Rama

Banished on a rumor while carrying the king's children, Sita raises twin sons in Valmiki's hermitage. Years later two boys sing a long poem before the court of Ayodhya: the Ramayana itself, learned from its author. Rama recognizes his sons in his own story; Sita, asked to prove herself once more, returns instead to the earth that bore her.