Ramayana Condensed in the Poet's Own Words /11

INTRODUCTION
 

 
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In all climes and in all ages, Poetry has

been conceived more as an intuitive art

than as otherwise. In India, too, the first

great poem, first because of the production

being the work of the earliest known

human author in Indian Literature and

great because of the unanimous verdict of

posterity, was born of the Poet's innate

pratibha. Valmiki is the earliest poet

known to classical Sanskrit Literature and

has been the pattern to all subsequent

aspirants to the Poet's mantle. The Idea

of the Poem arose in him, not on

account of any external urge to create a

work, but as the expression of the

spontaneous overflow of one of the most

consuming sentiments of the human mind,

the sentiment of karuna or compassion

for the afflicted and the distressed.
 

 
In giving expression to the sentiment,

Valmiki's words set themselves to rhythm

and cadence suited to the occasion: and

we have the most beautiful, melodious,

soul-stirring and artistic poem, as the

result.