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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.64.25

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

3.64.25

sītāharaṇajaṃ duḥkhaṃ na me saumya tathāgatam
yathā vināśo gṛdhrasya matkṛte ca paraṃtapa

The grief born of Sītā's abduction does not so afflict me, gentle one, as the destruction of the vulture on my account, O scorcher of foes.

Words: sītāharaṇajaṃ — born of Sītā's abduction; duḥkhaṃ — grief; na — not; me — to me; saumya — O gentle one; tathāgatam — come to such (a state), affects thus; yathā — as; vināśo — the destruction; gṛdhrasya — of the vulture; matkṛte — on my account; ca — and; paraṃtapa — O scorcher of foes

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.