Topic summary
Shlokas
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Shloka.
The traditional view is that this form of verse was involuntarily composed by Vālmīki, the author of the Rāmāyaṇa, in grief on seeing a hunter shoot down one of two birds in love. On seeing the sorrow (śoka) of the widowed bird, he was reminded of the sorrow Sītā felt on being separated from Shri Rama and began composing the Ramayana in shlokas. For this he is called the Ādikavi (first poet.)