Who Is Valmiki?
The poet who gave the world the Ramayana
Valmiki is the ancient Indian sage traditionally credited as the author of the Ramayana. In India he is called the Adi Kavi, "the first poet," and the Ramayana is considered "the first poem."
At the start of Episode 1, Valmiki is by a riverbank when he sees a hunter shoot down the male of a devoted pair of cranes. Moved by the grief of the female, he cries out words that turn out to form a perfectly measured verse, the shloka. It is in this verse form that the story of Rama comes to be sung. In the manga, he stands in the role of narrator and does not take part in the main story.
The scene is famous for its wordplay: "sorrow (shoka) became verse (shloka)." In the original epic, Valmiki later teaches this poem to Rama's sons and has them spread it far and wide through song.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 1
The Boy Whose Arrow Was Too StrongRamayana: Bala Kanda (The Book of Youth)
A poet's grief over a slain bird becomes a song, and that song becomes the story of a prince. In Episode 1, young Rama leaves his father's side to travel with a stern sage, and learns for the first time how great his own power is, and how frightening.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 2
Whoever Draws the Bow Wins the BrideSita's Swayamvara (The Bow of Shiva)
No king could even lift the divine bow, yet young Prince Rama bows to his teacher and quietly draws it. A wedding to Sita, daughter of the earth, follows—but on the road home, an axe-bearing sage named Parashurama awaits with a trial of his own.
19 pages