← 3.64.25 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 64: Rāma performs Jaṭāyu’s funeral · 3.64.27 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.64.26
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
3.64.26
rājā daśarathaḥ śrīmān yathā mama mayā yaśāḥ
pūjanīyaś ca mānyaś ca tathāyaṃ patageśvaraḥ
As the glorious, illustrious king Daśaratha was to me, to be honoured and revered by me, so too is this lord of birds.
Words: rājā — the king; daśarathaḥ — Daśaratha; śrīmān — the glorious; yathā — as; mama — to me, my; mayā — by me; yaśāḥ — illustrious, glorious; pūjanīyaś — to be honoured; ca — and; mānyaś — to be revered; ca — and; tathāyaṃ — so this; patageśvaraḥ — lord of birds
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.