It was the first utterance from the mouth of Aadi Kavi Valmiki unwrapping the first sloka (verse) of Ramayana the epic poem in Sanskrit. The central character of this epic is Raman who is revered by millions being emperor of virtues. The country India of more than one billion people is eponymously titled as Bharatam –nation of Bharata, the noble king, and sibling and disciple of Rama. Mahtama Gandhi, the most refined soul of all times dreamt of Ramarajya (kingdom of Rama) of the epic Ramayana
Manishada[nay wild hunter] is an utterance of big bang proscription in Sanskrit against violence and conducts without love. It is an utterance from the depth of heart of Valmiki for love and compassion to the entire flora and fauna of universe. This utterance was not anthropocentric. It immensely contained god particles of carithas. The message of Manishada for love and compassion was the mission of Father of Indian nation Mahatma Gandhi, whose legacy is due to the world community and the resolution passed by UN general assembly in 2007 declaring mahatma’s birthday as international day for non violence vindicated this. The God particles- love- encrypted in the utterance of manishada is for the sustenence of the entire universe The message ofManishada was accorded paramount emphasis by Gandhi and hence his famous adage;LOVE IS GOD AND TRUTH.Gandhiji had great respect to Abrahamic religions which gave primacy to God and the life sustaining gospel of Bible GOD IS LOVE testifies it.The word God is given sequentially the first place in this equation of the gospel in Bible.But in the equation of Gandhi’s famous maxim love is accorded first place with the addition of the word truth. The everlasting beauty of Gandhian philosophy is that he gave emphasis on God particles in univers emanated in the form of the passion of love instead of God.
In a good afternoon Valmiki went up to the river Tamasa in northern part of modern India for a bath and the rituals of a sage . The sound of flowing water,otherwise calm and
tranquil, emanated delight and lyric to the gorgeous river shore. Enhancing the beauty of nature of the river shore was the chirpimg birds in the trees of the forest. Suddenly, Valmiki heard the wailing sound of a bird ; a cruel hunter had let fly an arrow which pierced the male bird bathed in innocent blood. The bird fell to the ground writhing and died in pain and anguish. The piteous cry of the female bird lastingly sported with the male bird dead,melted the heart of Valmiki and it welled up in pity and grief and he uttered in this state of shoka (patho) the following sloka (verse): manishada pratishtatum samagah sashvatisamahyat krouncha mithunadekam sokam avadhim kama mohitam. Manishada pratishtatum samagah:
The transformation of a robber- killer to the harbinger poet is the essence of the biography of Valmiki. Rantnakaran, the hunter knowing the folly of cruelities and atrocities committed by him as a robber from, sage Narada went into meditation for years and a Valmikami or anthill was formed around him. Therefore he came to be known as Valmiki.This sort of transformation to individuals and societies is the history of mankind and some of them become epochs.For instance, biographers of Gandhiji are of the opinion his experiences in south Africa of discrimination and indignities, commonly directed against south Africans and Indians by the white regime of that time, made dramatic changes to his persona. The incident at Pietermaritzburg in a train journey tremendously impacted his mental fram. During this journey he was thrown off the train after refusing to move from first class to third class coach while holding a first class ticket. His sense of equality to all citizenssprouted in these days of utter discrimination he spent in south Africa. This nudged young Gandhi to spent twenty years in south Africa fighting against the scourge of apartheid.
The non violent modern weapon of sathyagraha was presented by him to the weak and oppressed of the world during this period
Valmiki’s Ramayana lay emphasis to the virtue of truth as much as to the virtue of love and compassion.The banishment of prince Rama to forest and enthronement of Bharatha in Ramayana was to fullfil the solemn promise of their father Dhasaratha to the stepmother of Rama and mother of Bharatha..This story very vivdly elucidates that Indian civilization accords truth a high value above that of the throne of an emperor.