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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.89.11
Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 89: Rāma invites Sītā into the Mandākinī. He urges her to bathe and regard the mountain as Ayodhyā, the river as Sarayū and its animals as citizens
In the sequence: flowers float downstream and birds rise above the water
2.89.11
tāṃś cātivalgu vacaso rathāṅgāhvayanā dvijāḥ
adhirohanti kalyāṇi niṣkūjantaḥ śubhā giraḥ
And the birds called cakravāka, of most sweet voice, rise up over those (flowers), O fair one, uttering their lovely cries.
Words: tāṃś — those; cātivalgu — and very sweet; vacaso — of voice, speech; rathāṅgāhvayanā — named 'rathāṅga' (the cakravāka, ruddy goose); dvijāḥ — the birds (twice-born); adhirohanti — rise up over, mount upon; kalyāṇi — O fair, auspicious one; niṣkūjantaḥ — warbling, uttering cries; śubhā — lovely, sweet; giraḥ — voices, cries
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.