( The R in this name is a consonant. The Y is a consonant. The n is pronounced hard like 'n' in 'turn'. )
( also, see vaalmeeki.html)
Raamaayanam is the first Ithihaasa ( epic) of our country. Raamaayanam means, 'Raama's life history'. Vaalmeeki was its composer. As Vaalmeeki himself said, the Raamaayanam became to be known as the Raamaayanam ( Raama's life history) or Seethaacharitham (Seetha's history) or Poulasthyavadham ( Ravana's slaying) .
Vaalmeeki was a sage. He was the tenth son of Prachethas who was one of the Prajaapathis ie sons born from intention of the creator Lord Brahma himself. It is a funny thing that his original name was not mentioned in the Raamaayanam ( except that he was son of Prachsthas). It was said that he was engrossed in penance for so long a period that mole-hills ( valmeeka= ant-hill or mole-hill) formed upon him from which he came out after his penance and so he was known as Vaalmeeki ( born or coming from Valmeeka).
( The popular stories that Vaalmeeki was first a cruel hunter and later became a sage from the teachings of the septet of sages etc is only the creation of free imagination of learned story-tellers.)
As far as our Indian literature is concerned, He is the source of teh first poetry of the world which he produced in the form of the great Ithihaasa (Epic) of Raamaayanam. Interestingly, Vaalmeeki is not only the composer of the epic but he himself was one of the persons that appear in the epic.
Once Vaalmeeki asked Naarada asto who at that time was an ideal human person with all the virtues embedded in his personality, Naarada replied to the question saying that Raama of the Ikshvaaku dynasty was such a person to answer the said description and he also gave a brief account of Raama's life history too. This was the seed of Raama's history.
After Naarada's departure, Vaalmeeki went to the river Thamasa alongwith his disciple Bhaaradvaaja for bathing. There, he saw a couple of Krouncha birds sporting happily on a branch when an arrow from a hunter hit the male bird to claim its life. Seeing the female bird's bitter sorrow from witnessing the slaying of its dear partner, Vaalmeeki's heart broke out and he instantly uttered a stanza which delivered a hard curse on the hunter too. ( Our scholars dig out some concocted inner meaning of this Shloka but all that gives us nothing.). The sage himself was wondered at the outbirst of his feelings in such a systematic metrical form. Even after returning to his hermitage, the sage was pondering over the sad incident that caused the birth of the metrical stanza and the beauty of the stanza itself too.
Just then, Lord Brahma appeared before him . After the usual honors are paid, the Lord clarified that the sage really hoisted the divine meter itself onto the earth and that metrical expression should be used to compose the history of Raama which the divine sage Naarada had told him a little while ago. Brahma himself named the work 'Raamaayanam'. He also granted Vaalmeeki such powers to visualize whatever that happened and whatever that would happen in Raama's life. Assuring the sage that the book about Raama, ie the Raamaayanam, will last on the earth so long as the hills and rivers last, the Lord vanished.
with the ordeal from Lord Brahma Vaalmeeki could 'see' the incidents, thoughts and feelings of all the people in the past and future too . He then composed the great poem in 24000 verses comprising seven books named Kaandas which all together are divided into more than six hundred ( tradition says five hundred , but that is roughly upto the first six books only) chapters named Sargas.
Vaalmeeki was also a person involved in the incidents of Raamaayanam. When Raama was affected by public talk about Seetha and sent her to be left in the hermitages of sages near Thamasa river, Vaalmeeki took care of her in the protection of ascetic women in the hermitages around. He supervised the birth ceremonies of her sons and named them Kusha and Lava. He also imparted to them all the normal education and princely instructions too. Besides, he taught them the Raamaayanam and how to recite it too.
The Raamaayanam , due to its existence for thousands of years, has diverse editions spread across the country. The Gouda recension, The Southern Recension, the Northern Recension ie North-Western Recenson, are the main traditions of the original text of the epic but many variations occur with minor deviations in text every here and there. Interpolations are quite a few. In case of some Sargas, it is clearly mentioned that those specific Sargas were interpolations and the earlier commentators did not comment upon them. Yet, some other Sargas were prefixed as as interpolations but they were also commented upon. Some opine that the entire Uththarakaanda was a later edition while some opine that interpolations are many in this Kaanda.
Many scholars wrote commentaries on this great book. Govindaraaja's commentary named Raamaayana-Bhooshanam ( commentary on each Kaanda is named differently.) is the most popular despite its author's bias towards Vishnu, though some others like Thanushlooki. Thilaka, Raamaanujeeyam and Maheshvaratheertheeyam etc are also taken as standard commentaries.
The structure of the Raamaayanam is as following ( According to Gorakhpoor Edition of the Geetha Press, Gorakhpoor,2005). Other recensions and their traditions give varried number of Shlokas and Sargas.
| Serial Number | Name of the Book | Story covered by the book | Number of Sargas | Number of Shlokas |
| 1 | Baala or Aadi Kaanda | Upto the marriage of Raama | 77 | 2 276 |
| 2 | Ayodhya Kaanda | Upto Raama's entering the Dandaka forest | 119 | 4 279 |
| 3 | Aranya or Aaranya Kaanda | Upto Raama's reaching the Pampa lake | 75 | 2 479 |
| 4 | Kishkindha Kaanda | Upto the Vaanaras' reaching the Southern sea | 67 | 2 486 |
| 5 | Sundara Kaanda | Upto Hanumaan's return from Lanka | 68 | 2 832 |
| 6 | Yuddha or Lanka Kaanda | Upto Raama's coronation | 131 | 5 798 |
| 7 | Uththara Kaanda | Upto Raama's Renunciation | 111 | 3 543 |
| Total | 648 | 23 693 |
An edition of the Southern Recension published by M/s. R S Vadhyar and Sons, Palghat, under Editorship of Shree P.S. Krishnasvaamy, Dharmaalaya, Mylapore, Madras, is named 'The Dharmaalaya Edition'. It consists of exactly 24 000 Shlokas in the seven Kaandas with 647 Sargas. The numbering of Shlokas is also given from 1 to 24000.
Thus Vaalmeeki stood to be the first poet of the world with the great work Raamaayanam to his credit.
It is wonderful to note that nearly fifty per cent of the classical literature has Raamaayanam as its basis. It is just impossible to find a substitute to Raamaayanam.