In his youth he was a highway robber. Young and strong, he attacked travelers going by lonely roads and stole their money and valuables. He knew this was wrong, but he thought it was the only way he could make his livelihood. Moreover, his father, mother and wife were there at home, depending on him.
One day the robber caught hold of a traveler who had nothing. Angry, he asked him how he could wander around like that. "I am the sage Narada," said he. "I travel freely even between heaven and earth. I am one of the 'immortals'." Narada asked this man whether his family would share in his sins. The man said they would, but did not sound too sure of himself. Narada asked him to go to them and find out. So the robber tied Narada securely and went to his family.
His father, his mother and even his wife refused to share his sins. They were aghast that all these years they were being nourished with evil. They denounced him and renounced him. The robber's eyes were opened. Going back to the tree where Narada was tied, he told the sage what had happened. He begged forgiveness and asked Narada how he may atone for his sins. Narada taught the young man to worship and told him to go into the forest. He went into solitude and began to practice meditation and prayer. He kept this up for many years, living at first on fruits and roots. Eventually he became totally absorbed in meditation and forgot himself, losing awareness of his body. As a result, ants even came and made anthills around him, heaped up high, so that he looked like a mountain of ants.
After many years a divine voice came to him. "Arise, O Sage, your guilt has been erased; you have had a new birth, and you now have a new name: Valmiki -- meaning, he that was born in an ant-hill."
Valmiki established his own hermitage and soon earned the respect of seers and commoners alike. Once Narada visited Valmiki's hermitage. After the usual welcome Valmiki asked him as to who among the heroes of this world was the highest in virtue and wisdom. To this question, Narada replied that Ram was the hero who born in the solar dynasty, was at present ruling in Ayodhya. Sage Narada then briefly narrated to Valmiki the story of Ram. So impressed was Valmiki when he heard Ram's story that even long after Narada had left, his mind was full of it, and he was pondering on it as he went to the river Tamasa for his morning ablution. As he was walking along the riverbank he saw in the nearby tree two loving dove birds sporting and singing in their joy of life. Suddenly, the male bird fell down hit by a hunter's arrow. The female bird, seeing her lover rolling on the ground, lamented piteously.
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