When Devarshi Narada visited Sage Valmiki once, the sage asked him which hero in the world stands the highest in virtue and wisdom. Narada said Rama of the Suryavanshi dynasty, ruler of Ayodhya, was the hero. He told Valmiki the story of Rama. Valmiki kept thinking of it as he went to the Tamasa river, where he saw two krauncha birds lovingly playing together on a tree. Suddenly, the male bird dropped dead, shot by a hunter’s arrow, and the female wept for her mate. Valmiki, pitying the birds, cursed the hunter. Then he pulled himself up for cursing thinking, ‘What right had I to curse the hunter? Why was I deceived by emotion?’ He had recited a beautiful shloka to express his pity. Brahma advised him to write the Ramayana in the metre of that shloka, and gave him the divine vision to see the events as they had happened. Thus Valmiki began to write the Ramayana.
Writing the Ramayana
