Valmiki Jayanti

Valmiki Jayanti marks the birth anniversary of the author and sage Maharishi Valmiki, who is considered the first poet of Sanskrit literature as he drafted the first-ever Sanskrit shloka. He lived around 12,209 BCE (A/c to Shri Nilesh Oak's genuine research on the dating of Ramayana by using 600+ Astronomical Data & also through other Scientific Disciplines). The festival date is determined by the Indian lunar calendar, and falls on the full moon (Purnima) of the month of Ashwin, typically in late September or early October. This year Valmiki Jayanti  celebrated on 31st October.

Valmiki is revered in India as the author of the Indian epic poem Ramayana, and is also worshipped as the avatar of God by members of the Balmiki sect. Valmiki himself appears as a major character in the Ramayana, as a monk who receives the banished queen Sita into his hermitage and acts as teacher to her twin sons, Luv and Kush. The "epic metre" in traditional Indian poetry is attributed to Valmiki, with verses consisting of memorable rhyming couplets, suggesting that the poem was intended for public recitation, a common Indian oral tradition.

On Pargat Diwas, portraits of Valmiki, typically depicted as a monk wearing saffron-coloured robes and holding a quill and paper, are paraded in processions called Shobha Yatra through the main streets of the Balmiki sect's locality, accompanied by street devotional singing.