Valmiki

In that city, no one was seen without earrings, without a head-ornament, or without garlands; none lived with scant enjoyments, and none appeared unclean, unanointed, or without fragrance upon the body.

The blessed sage Vālmīki, possessed of spiritual insight, composed in wonderfully varied verse the complete account of Rāma, who had regained his kingdom.

The magnanimous Ikṣvāku-descended king had ministers rich in virtues—skilled in counsel, skilled in reading intentions from outward signs, and ever intent on what was both pleasing and beneficial to their lord.

Lakṣmaṇa said: “I shall now go to Rāma; having gone, I will inform him of everything. Near you, O sage, is the great hermitage of Vālmīki.”

Śeṣa said: Having learned from Sumati that the two children at Vālmīki’s hermitage were his own sons, he went to Vālmīki.

In the holy hermitage of Vālmīki, on the bank of the Gaṅgā in a great forest, the radiant one dismissed the pregnant woman in the assembly of sages.

There was a foremost devotee of Paśupati, renowned as Vālmīki. That sage practiced austerity, worshipping Kapardīśa (Śiva) with reverence.

Devala (established) a barley-made Liṅga; it is named Pati, “the Lord.” Vālmīki (established) a Liṅga formed from an anthill; it is called Ciravāsī, “the Ever-Abiding.”

Kauṇḍinya and Puṇḍarīka, Raibhya and Tṛṇabindu, Vālmīki and Nārada, as well as Vahni and Dṛḍhamanyu—these too came together (there), honoring Arunachala.

Rama prostrated himself before the sage, and the best of Brahmins gave him his blessing. Seeing Rama's beauty, his eyes were cooled and delighted; he received him with honor and brought him into the hermitage. The great sage, having gained…

The fruit of bathing here is seen at once: crows become cuckoos, and herons become swans. Let no one marvel on hearing this, for the glory of the company of the good is no hidden thing. Valmiki, Narada and the jar-born Agastya have each…

The wise honor that poetry which is simple and a fame which is spotless, such that even an enemy, forgetting his natural hostility, hears it and recites it in praise. That cannot come about without a pure intellect, and my intellect and…