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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.2.12

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: moved by compassion and anger at the cruelty, Vālmīki declares that the hunter will find no lasting rest for killing one of the loving pair. Vālmīki wonders at the words that have burst from his grief

1.2.12

tathā tu taṃ dvijaṃ dṛṣṭvā niṣādena nipātitam
ṛṣer dharmātmanas tasya kāruṇyaṃ samapadyata

Seeing the bird thus struck down by the Niṣāda, compassion arose in that righteous sage.

Words: tathā tu — and thus; taṃ dvijaṃ — that bird (lit. twice-born); dṛṣṭvā — having seen; niṣādena — by the Niṣāda; nipātitam — struck down, felled; ṛṣer — of the seer; dharmātmanas — the righteous-souled; tasya — that; kāruṇyaṃ — compassion, pity; samapadyata — arose, came to be

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.