Birthday of sage Valmiki, author of the Ramayana epic

Valmiki Jayanti, also celebrated as Pargat Diwas, marks the birth of Maharishi Valmiki, the Adi Kavi or first poet, author of the Ramayana. It falls on Ashwin Purnima. Tradition tells that Valmiki was once Ratnakar, a highwayman who robbed travellers to support his family. When he waylaid the sage Narada, Narada asked whether his family would share the burden of his sins; learning they would not, Ratnakar was shaken, and Narada gave him Rama's name to chant. Unable at first even to say Rama, he chanted Mara Mara, which became Rama, and he meditated so long that an anthill (valmika) grew over him — hence his name. On the banks of the Tamasa, seeing a hunter kill one of a pair of krauncha birds, his grief poured out as the first shloka in Sanskrit verse, and at Brahma's urging he composed the Ramayana of twenty-four thousand verses. Sita later found refuge in his ashram, where Lava and Kusha were born and learned the epic from him. The Valmiki community holds shobha yatras, and the day is a holiday in several states.

No fast is prescribed.