Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets people on Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders today greeted the nation on the occasion of Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti.

Paying tributes to Maharishi Valmiki, the author of epic 'Ramayana' and harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature, on his birth anniversary, Modi said, "my greetings on Valmiki Jayanti".

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also greeted the people of the state on the occasion and asked them to follow the path shown by Maharishi Valmiki.

Maharishi Valmiki, also revered as the "Adi Kavi" or First Poet, invented the "sloka" (first verse or epic metre), which set the base and defined the form to Sanskrit poetry.

The Valmiki community found in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat worship saint Valmiki.