Quotes from work
Ramayana

Ramayana

Vālmīki Original title रामायण

Ramayana is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Mahābhārata. Along with the Mahābhārata, it forms the Hindu Itihasa.

“Valmiki went alone to the clear Ganga waterside and bathed. He washed away the anthill dust and peeled grey bark from a tree and made new fresh clothes. Then he sat back resting against a stone. He watched two small water birds in a tree nearby. The male bird was singing to his mate when before Valmiki’s eyes an arrow hit him, and the little bird fell from the limb. He thrashed on the ground an instant and then lay dead and blood drops strained his feathers.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

Source: Ramayana, p. 7.

“As a young man, Valmiki searched through the world seeking open friendship and happiness and hope and finding none of these he went alone into the empty forest where no man lived, to as spot where the Tamasa River flows into Ganga. There he sat for years without moving, so still that white ants built an anthill over him. There Valmiki sat inside that anthill for thousands of years with only his eyes showing out, trying to find the True, his hands folded and his mind lost in contemplation.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 5.
Ramayana

“Rama rules as King in Ayodhya. He is born in the Solar race and a descendant of the Sun; he is brave and gentle and firm in fight. By Rama's command his adorable Queen Sita is being brought here into the forest on a chariot, and though she suspects nothing yet, here she will be left abandoned. Unless you comfort her she will drown herself in Ganga and kill as well her unborn sons by Rama.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 5.
Narada to Valmiki
Ramayana

“Heartbroken the dead bird’s mate cried – Your long feathers! Your tuneful songs. A bird hunter came from the forest holding a bow. Valmiki’s heart was pounding and he cursed the killer.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

Source: Ramayana, p. 7.

“Just name me one honest man and I'll move.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 5'
Valmiki To Narada
Ramayana

“English translation:
You will find no rest for the long years of Eternity
For you killed a bird in love and unsuspecting”

Vālmīki Ramayana

He expressed anguish in a poetic form when he found the hunter killing the male dove with his arrow.
Source: Ramayana translated by William Buck in: Ramayana https://books.google.co.in/books?id=vvuIp2kqIkMC&pg=PA7, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1 January 2000, p. 7.

“Valmiki stood up and broke free out of that hard anthill. Suddenly he saw all around him many houses of hermits and their families, young trees carefully watered, a retreat cleared from the forest. Four boys ran up to him from the river and cried "The wife of some great warrior weeps by Ganges. She is fair as a Goddess fallen from heaven, all bewildered, all alone, never seen before, with child, and with small gifts tied from the city within a silk cloth beside her. Go to her, welcome her and protect her.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 6.
Narada to Valmiki.
Ramayana

“You have now. Coming here, I sang a friend-gathering song. Valmiki, I've seen other skies than these, other worlds, and other friends. People are counting on you… and I can hear the chariot from Ayodhya approaching across Ganga.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 6.
Narada to Valmiki
Ramayana

“I have no companions here.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 6.
Valmiki to Narada
Ramayana

“I have no skill in any craft, even in words.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 6.
Valmiki to Narada
Ramayana

“Would I ever? See how Life goes by, with every creature doing what follows his nature. Master, what can I say to you?”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 5
Narada to Valmiki looking at him intently
Ramayana

“Sita, stay here in my hermitage, you have found here your father's house in a foreign land, we will care for you as our daughter. Looking at Sita he thought :What a fair woman, how beautiful!”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 6.
Valmiki to Sita
Ramayana

“It’s too cold. Away from the worlds, where a little pleasure costs a lot of pain. Don’t make trouble.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

Valmiki to Brahma who appeared before him. p. 5.
Ramayana

“Act now Valmiki; Call out and the rest must follow.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 6.
Narada to Valmiki.
Ramayana

“Nothing. She is innocent and blameless. She has lived as Rama’s queen ten thousand years; before that Rama saved her from great danger by wondrous and incredible deeds. And now behold one of the terrors of kingship, that Rama let her go because his people talk against her. Get up, save her life with you and your companions; and make in measured words the song of Rama, and teach it to Rama’s two sons.”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 6.
Narada to Valmiki
Ramayana

“What did she do wrong?”

Vālmīki Ramayana

In p. 5.
Valmiki To Narada
Ramayana

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