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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.2.17

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: he recognizes their balanced metrical feet and equal syllables, suitable for singing with a lute, and calls the utterance a śloka → Bharadvāja receives it with delight

1.2.17

pādabaddho 'kṣarasamas tantrīlayasamanvitaḥ
śokārtasya pravṛtto me śloko bhavatu nānyathā

“Set in metrical feet, with equal syllables, fit to be sung to the rhythm of the lute — let what poured forth from me in grief be a śloka, and nothing else.”

Words: pādabaddho — bound in (metrical) feet; 'kṣarasamas — with equal syllables; tantrīlayasamanvitaḥ — furnished with the rhythm of the lute; śokārtasya — of one stricken with grief; pravṛtto — that poured forth, arose; me — from me; śloko — a śloka (verse); bhavatu — let it be; nānyathā — and not otherwise

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.