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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.2.8

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

1.2.8

sa śiṣyahastād ādāya valkalaṃ niyatendriyaḥ
vicacāra ha paśyaṃs tat sarvato vipulaṃ vanam

Taking the bark-garment from the disciple’s hand, his senses controlled, he wandered about, gazing on every side at that vast forest.

Words: sa — he; śiṣyahastād — from the disciple’s hand; ādāya — having taken; valkalaṃ — the bark-garment; niyatendriyaḥ — his senses controlled; vicacāra — wandered, roamed; ha — indeed; paśyaṃs — gazing; tat — that; sarvato — on every side; vipulaṃ — vast, wide; vanam — forest

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.