Maa Nishaada – World’s First Sloka

It is always exciting to find out when something is achieved the very first time.  There are several works in Sanskrit which are quite old (several yugas as per our reckoning). Even among those, there is one sloka which considered the oldest, for it is the world’s first sloka.  There  was a time when there were no poems in Sanskrit. At that time, there were only the Vedas which were not strictly poetic. People of those times centered their life and activities around the study and practice of Vedas only at that time. Poetry as an art form was not invented then. 

It was during this time that a great sage went to the banks of river Tamasa for performing his daily rituals. While he was enjoying the serene beauty of nature, his eyes fell upon a pair of birds (Krauncha) which were greatly in love with each other. While the sage was immersed on this happy sight, an arrow from a hunter’s quiver pierced the male bird sending the female bird into throes of agony. The startled sage became angry and harsh words came out of his mouth.

“O Hunter!  You killed one of the Krauncha pair who were in great love with each other! For this same reason, you may not live long in this world for the act you committed!”

The below words formed the below phrase in Sanskrit:

“ मा निषाद! प्रतिष्ठां त्वं अगमः शाश्वतीः समाः, यत् क्रौञ्चमिथुनात् एकं अवधी: काममोहितम् “

“maa nishaada! prathishtaam tvam agama: shaashvathees samaa:, yat krauncha mithunaath ekam avadhee: kaamamohitam”

Having cursed the hunter, the great sage went to his hermitage greatly disturbed. The phrases kept ringing in his ears.  As a sage, he should not have lost his temper. Moreover, the hunter was merely following his Dharma.  He paced his abode restlessly when Lord Brahma made his way to his place.  Lord Brahma understood what happened and consoled him. He also explained that his outburst was lyrical. With 8 letters in each part of the phrase, he has composed the world’s first sloka.  Thus the grief (shoka in Sanskrit) gave way to the first ever verse – Sloka (Shoka giving way to Sloka!)

The sage was none other than Adikavi Vaalmiki.  

A robber once with the name Ratnakara, he encountered sage Narada who reformed him. Narada also requested him to write the great story of Lord Rama, which will become the oldest epic in the world. Having thrust with this responsibility, he had gone to river Thamasa thinking of a way to compose a meter (tune) to the epic. The world’s first sloka was born thus.  

In spite of this, Valmiki was still agitated, as the sloka conveyed a curse and he was not sure if that was a good way to start the epic. Lord Brahma once again came to his rescue and asked him to re-interpret the sloka. To his joy, Valmiki found out that the sloka also conveyed a tribute to Rama if interpreted in a different way.

“O Srinivasa! (Maa Nishada also means ‘the one who bears Goddess Lakshmi in his chest’ – Lord Narayana) Having killed the infatuated male of the Rakshasa couple (Ravana and Mandodari), your praise will remain permanent for many years to come!”

By delivering this verse Valmiki became the Adikavi who used the Anushtubh meter for his work, Ramayana. This sloka became his inspiration to compose the entire collection of 24,000 verses of Ramayana. In classical Sanskrit the Anuṣhṭubh meter is considered meter par excellence with a majority of sloka collections formed on this meter.

maa nishaada prathishtaam tvam agama: shaashvathees samaa: |
yat krauncha mithunaath ekam avadhee: kaamamohitam ||

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