Bhagwan Valmiki Mandir - भगवान वाल्मीकि मंदिर

Bhagwan Valmiki Mandir dedicated to Maharishi Valmiki. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clarion call for a Swach Bharat (Clean India) on the birth anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi on 2 October 2014. Mahatma Gandhi also spent here 214 days, from 1st April 1946 to early 1947.

History
It was here that Bapu met Lord Mountbatten, the Cripps Commission, Sir Patrick Lawrence and took the freedom movement further. It was also during his stay here that Gandhi wrote a letter to Lord Irwin, which became the basis of the Gandhi-Irwin pact to be formalized later. The room at Valmiki Colony still has pictures of Gandhi with Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Acharya Kriplani, Frontier Gandhi, C. Rajgoplachari, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and Pt Nehru. There is a wooden desk in the center that Gandhi used to write his letters at. A little to the right in the carpeted room is the Takht or the bed that Gandhi would use.

This is not the first time that Valmiki Sadan will host a PM. Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had visited this place earlier. However, Narendra Modi will be the first PM to visit us on 2nd October Sant Krishna Sah Vidhyarthi of the Valmiki Sadan said.

About Maharishi Valmiki
Maharishi Valmiki is considered as the Adi Kavi i.e. the first poet of Sanskrit language. He was a great santh and author of the epic Ramayana which consists of 24,000 verses and 7 cantos (Kandas). His birth anniversary which is also known as his Jayanti is celebrated on Ashwin Purnima.

Maharishi Valmiki was born in a Naga Prajati, in the early life he was dacoit named Ratnakar, who used to rob people after killing them. It is believed that santh Narada Muni transformed Ratnakar into a great devotee of Lord Rama. On the advice of Narada Muni, Ratnakar performed great Tapasya by reciting the great Mantra of Rama Nama. After years of meditation, a divine voice declared his penance successful and bestowed him with new name Valmiki, the one who born out of ant-hills.

As per Ramayana, Shri Ram met Valmiki during his period of exile and interacted with him. Later, Valmiki gave shelter to Devi Sita in his Kutir. Kusha and Lava, the twin sons of Shri Rama were born in his kutir. Valmiki taught Ramayana to both twins.

मां निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमः शाश्वतीः समाः।
यत्क्रौंचमिथुनादेकम् अवधीः काममोहितम्॥