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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.2.11

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 2: Grief becomes the first śloka. A bird’s death moves Vālmīki to utter the first śloka, Brahmā asks him to compose Rāma’s life in that form

In the sequence: looking around the forest, he sees an inseparable pair of sweet-voiced krauñca birds → a hunter kills the male before his eyes → the bloodied bird writhes on the ground while his mate cries out

1.2.11

taṃ śoṇitaparītāṅgaṃ veṣṭamānaṃ mahītale
bhāryā tu nihataṃ dṛṣṭvā rurāva karuṇāṃ giram

Seeing him slain, his body drenched in blood and writhing on the ground, his mate cried out a piteous wail.

Words: taṃ — him; śoṇitaparītāṅgaṃ — his limbs drenched in blood; veṣṭamānaṃ — writhing, rolling; mahītale — on the ground; bhāryā — the wife, mate; tu — but; nihataṃ — slain; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; rurāva — cried out, wailed; karuṇāṃ — piteous; giram — a cry, sound

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.