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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.4.10

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 4: Kuśa & Lava perform the poem. Kuśa & Lava learn and perform the poem, their singing moves the ṛṣis and brings them before Rāma

In the sequence: the work is called the Rāmāyaṇa, the great story of Sītā, and the slaying of Pulastya's descendant → the brothers master its musical tempos, modes, lute accompaniment, and varied emotions, resembling Rāma himself in appearance. Kuśa and Lava sing before assemblies of ṛṣis and dvijas

1.4.10

rūpalakṣaṇasaṃpannau madhurasvarabhāṣiṇau
bimbād ivoddhṛtau bimbau rāmadehāt tathāparau

endowed with beauty and (auspicious) marks, speaking with sweet voices, they were like two reflections lifted from a mirror-image — two others, as it were, from Rāma’s own body.

Words: rūpalakṣaṇasaṃpannau — endowed with beauty and (auspicious) marks; madhurasvarabhāṣiṇau — speaking with sweet voices; bimbād ivoddhṛtau — as if lifted from a reflected image; bimbau — two images, reflections; rāmadehāt — from Rāma’s body; tathāparau — and thus two others

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.