← 3.64.18 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 64: Rāma performs Jaṭāyu’s funeral · 3.64.20 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.64.19

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 64: Rāma performs Jaṭāyu’s funeral. Jaṭāyu reports the southward flight and dies, Rāma cremates him as kin, offers deer meat and gives water in the Godāvarī

In the sequence: Rāma honors Jaṭāyu's long life and sacrifice, saying that goodness and courage exist even among animals → he says the bird deserves the same reverence as Daśaratha and that this death pains him even more than the abduction

3.64.19

taṃ gṛdhraṃ prekṣya tāmrākṣaṃ gatāsum acalopamam
rāmaḥ subahubhir duḥkhair dīnaḥ saumitrim abravīt

Beholding that copper-eyed vulture, lifeless and like a mountain, Rāma, wretched with very many sorrows, spoke to Saumitri.

Words: taṃ gṛdhraṃ — that vulture; prekṣya — having beheld; tāmrākṣaṃ — copper-eyed; gatāsum — lifeless (whose breath is gone); acalopamam — like a mountain; rāmaḥ — Rāma; subahubhir — with very many; duḥkhair — with sorrows; dīnaḥ — wretched; saumitrim — to Saumitri; abravīt — spoke

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.