Patna also known as Pataliputra is the capital of Bihar. Ancient Patna, known as Pataliputra, was the capital of the Magadha Empire under the Haryanka, Nanda, Mauryan, Sunga, Gupta and Pala. Pataliputra was a seat of learning and fine arts. Its population during the Maurya period.
The Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain pilgrim centres of Vaishali, Rajgir, Nalanda, Gaya, Bodhgaya, and Pawapuri are nearby and Patna is also a sacred city for Sikhs as the last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, was born here.
VEDIK GYAN
Valmiki was born as Agni Sharma to a Brahmin named Pracheta (also known as Sumali) of Bhrigu gotra.
According to legend he once met the great sage Narada and had a discourse with him on his duties. Moved by Narada’s words, Agni Sharma began to perform penance and chanted the word “Mara” which meant “die”.
As he performed his penance for several years, the word became “Rama”, the name of Lord Vishnu.
Huge anthills formed around Agni Sharma and this earned him the name of Valmiki. Agni Sharma, rechristened as Valmiki, learnt the scriptures from Narada and became the foremost of ascetics, revered by everyone.
There also exist some legends about *Valmiki having been a robber before turning into a rishi.* The Nagara Khanda of the *Skanda Purana* in its section on the creation of Mukhara Tirtha mentions that Valmiki was born a Brahmin, with the name of Lohajangha and was a devoted son to his parents.
He had a beautiful wife and both of them were faithful to each other.
Once, when there was no rain in the region of Anarta, for twelve long years, Lohajangha, for the sake of his hungry family, started robbing people that he found in the forest.
In the course of this life he met the seven sages or the Saptarishi and tried to rob them as well. But the learned sages felt pity on him and showed him the folly of his ways.
One of them, Pulaha gave him a Mantra to meditate upon and the Brahmin turned thief got so engrossed in its recitation that ant-hills came up around his body.
When the sages returned and heard the sound of the mantra coming from the ant-hill, they blessed him and said, “Since you achieved great Siddhi seated within a Valmīka (an anthill), you will become well-known in the world as Vālmīki.
He is revered as Ādi Kavi, the first poet, author of Ramayana, the first epic poem. Ramayana, originally written by Valmiki, consists of 24,000 shlokas and seven cantos (kaṇḍas) Ramayana is composed of about 480,002 words.
LEARN Sanskrit-पुरषार्थ ( Purusharth) : Efforts, Hard work, Daring, courage
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Ch Narmada Naveen Kumar |
