← 3.64.1 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 64: Rāma performs Jaṭāyu’s funeral · 3.64.3 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.64.2

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: Seeing that Jaṭāyu is still breathing, Rāma asks him to speak once more if he can

3.64.2

mamāyaṃ nūnam artheṣu yatamāno vihaṃgamaḥ
rākṣasena hataḥ saṃkhye prāṇāṃs tyajati dustyajān

Surely this bird, striving in my cause, struck down in battle by the rākṣasa, is giving up his life-breaths so hard to give up.

Words: mamāyaṃ — this one of mine; nūnam — surely; artheṣu — in (my) affairs, cause; yatamāno — striving; vihaṃgamaḥ — the bird; rākṣasena — by the rākṣasa; hataḥ — struck down, slain; saṃkhye — in battle; prāṇāṃs — the life-breaths; tyajati — gives up, abandons; dustyajān — hard to give up

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.