← 3.64.19 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 64: Rāma performs Jaṭāyu’s funeral · 3.64.21 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.64.20

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

3.64.20

bahūni rakṣasāṃ vāse varṣāṇi vasatā sukham
anena daṇḍakāraṇye vicīrṇam iha pakṣiṇā

For many years, dwelling happily in the abode of the rākṣasas, this bird has roamed here in the Daṇḍaka forest.

Words: bahūni — many; rakṣasāṃ — of the rākṣasas; vāse — in the abode; varṣāṇi — years; vasatā — dwelling; sukham — happily; anena — by this; daṇḍakāraṇye — in the Daṇḍaka forest; vicīrṇam — was roamed over; iha — here; pakṣiṇā — by the bird

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.