THE RAMAYANAM : (Delivered at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, January 31, 1900)-6.

Part-6.


And this is how he became a poet. One day as this sage, Valmiki, was going to bathe in the holy river Ganga, he saw a pair of doves wheeling round and round, and kissing each other.

The sage looked up and was pleased at the sight, but in a second an arrow whisked past him and killed the male dove.

As the dove fell down on the ground, the female dove went on whirling round and round the dead body of its companion in grief.

In a moment the poet became miserable, and looking round, he saw the hunter.

"Thou art a wretch," he cried, "without the smallest mercy! Thy slaying hand would not even stop for love!"

"What is this? What am I saying?" the poet thought to himself, "I have never spoken in this sort of way before."

And then a voice came: "Be not afraid. This is poetry that is coming out of your mouth. Write the life of Rama in poetic language for the benefit of the world."

And that is how the poem first began.

The first slokam sprang out of pits from the mouth of Valmiki, the first poet.

And it was after that, that he wrote the beautiful Ramayana, "The Life of Rama".

To be continued  ...