| Valmiki is revered as the first poet in Hinduism. He was the author of the first Sanskrit epic Ramayana that dates back to 500BC to 100 BC. The epic consists of 24,001 verses in six cantos. The Ramayana is about the story of the prince of Ayodhya, Rama and his wife Sita, who is abducted by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka. In Sanskrit literature, Valmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger. He was the inventor of the Vedic poetic meter shloka. |