← 3.64.21 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 64: Rāma performs Jaṭāyu’s funeral · 3.64.23 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.64.22

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

3.64.22

paśya lakṣmaṇa gṛdhro 'yam upakārī hataś ca me
sītām abhyavapan no vai rāvaṇena balīyasā

See, Lakṣmaṇa, this vulture, my benefactor, has been slain — while protecting Sītā for us, indeed, by the mightier Rāvaṇa.

Words: paśya — see; lakṣmaṇa — O Lakṣmaṇa; gṛdhro — the vulture; 'yam — this; upakārī — the benefactor, helper; hataś — slain; ca — and; me — my, for me; sītām — Sītā; abhyavapan — protecting, coming to the aid of; no — for us; vai — indeed; rāvaṇena — by Rāvaṇa; balīyasā — by the stronger, mightier

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.