Valmiki Festival 2025 | 10 Mar 2025

Why in News?  

On 8 March 2025, the Chief Minister of Bihar launched the Valmiki Mahotsav 2025 . 

Key Points  

  • About the Festival: 
    • Valmiki Mahotsav is an effective platform to honor the contribution of Maharishi Valmiki as well as to preserve and promote the rich cultural heritage of Bihar. 
    • The festival was organised in the River Valley Project School premises, situated in the middle of the Valmiki Tiger Reserve at Valmikinagar in West Champaran district . 
    • The program started with the presentation of ' Bihar Geet' . After this, a short film based on Maharishi Valmiki was shown, which depicted the importance of this holy place. 
    • Many important guests including the Chief Minister of Bihar and the Minister of Art and Culture were present in the program. 

Maharishi Valmiki 

  • Maharishi Valmiki is considered the first poet of Sanskrit literature and is known as the author of  the epic "Ramayana" . 
  • He was a great sage, ascetic and philosopher. His life is mentioned in various texts, according to which he was earlier a robber, but with the inspiration of sage Narada, he did penance and became a great saint.  
  • During his penance a 'Valmiki' (ant mound) was formed around him due to which he was named 'Valmiki' . 
  • Maharishi Valmiki was born on the full moon day of Ashwin month , which is celebrated as Valmiki Jayanti in the Hindu calendar. 

Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR)  

  • VTR is the only tiger reserve in Bihar , which forms the easternmost limit of the Himalayan foothills forests in India. 
  • VTR is located in West Champaran district of Bihar which shares a border with Nepal in the north and Uttar Pradesh in the west . 
  • Located in the Gangetic plains biogeographical region, the vegetation of this Tiger Reserve is a combination of Bhabar and Terai regions . 
  • As per Forest Survey of India report 2021 , 85.71% of its total area is forested. 
  • The wild mammals found in the forests of Valmiki Tiger Reserve include tiger, sloth bear, leopard, wild dog, bison, wild boar , etc. 
  • The rivers Gandak, Pandai, Manor , Harha, Masan and Bhapsa flow through various parts of the sanctuary.