Ramayana — Bala Kanda, Sarga 2, Shloka 15

द्वितीयः सर्गः — श्लोकप्रादुर्भावः

The Manifestation of the Śloka

Devanagari script

मा निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमश्शाश्वतीस्समा: ।यत्क्रौञ्चमिथुनादेकमवधी: काममोहितम् ।।1.2.15।। 15

Transliteration

mā niṣāda pratiṣṭhāṃ tvam agamaḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ |

yat krauñcamithunād ekam avadhīḥ kāmamohitam ||1.2.15||

Translation

“အို နိသာဒ (မုဆိုး)၊ နှစ်ကာလရှည်လျားသော်လည်း သင်သည် ထာဝရဂုဏ်သိက္ခာကို မရစေပါနှင့်။ အကြောင်းမူကား ချစ်မောဟဖြင့် မူးယစ်နေသော ကရောဉ္စအတွဲမှ တစ်ကောင်ကို သင် သတ်ခဲ့သောကြောင့်ပင်။”

Word by Word

• मा: do not / may not
• मा: निषेध (Prohibition marker)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: मा (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; निषेध (prohibitive particle)

• निषाद: O fowler
• निषाद: सम्बोधन (Address)
• Type: Noun
• Root: निषाद (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (Vocative), एकवचन

• प्रतिष्ठाम्: fame, standing
• प्रतिष्ठाम्: कर्म (Karma/Object; thing not to be attained)
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रतिष्ठा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• त्वम्: you
• त्वम्: कर्ता (Karta/Subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: युष्मद् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम; पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• अगमः: may you go/attain
• अगमः: क्रिया (Kriyā/Verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: गम् (धातु)
• Form: लुङ्-लकार (Aorist); मध्यमपुरुष (2nd person), एकवचन; परस्मैपद; prohibitive with मा

• शाश्वतीः: everlasting
• शाश्वतीः: कर्म (Qualifier of object)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शाश्वत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, बहुवचन; 'समाः' इति विशेषण

• समाः: years
• समाः: कर्म (Karma/Object; duration)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, बहुवचन (समाः = years)

• यत्: because
• यत्: हेतु-सूचक (Cause marker)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यद् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सम्बन्धबोधक अव्ययवत् (relative particle introducing cause: 'because/for that')

• क्रौञ्चमिथुनात्: from the pair of krauñca birds
• क्रौञ्चमिथुनात्: अपादान (Apādāna/Source)
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्रौञ्च + मिथुन (प्रातिपदिक; समास)
• Form: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष: क्रौञ्चयोः मिथुनम्; पञ्चमी, एकवचन

• एकम्: one (of the pair)
• एकम्: कर्म (Qualifier of object)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: एक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; 'क्रौञ्चम् (अध्याहृतम्)' इति विशेषण

• अवधीः: you killed
• अवधीः: क्रिया (Kriyā/Verb)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वध्/हन् (धातु)
• Form: लुङ्-लकार (Aorist); मध्यमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद

• काममोहितम्: infatuated by desire
• काममोहितम्: कर्म (Qualifier of object)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: काम + मोहित (प्रातिपदिक; समास)
• Form: तत्पुरुष: कामेन मोहितम्; पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; 'एकम्' (अध्याहृत-क्रौञ्चम्) इति विशेषण

Context

"O fowler, since you have killed one of the pair of infatuated kraunchas you will be permanently deprived of your position".

Characters & Entities

• Vālmīki
• niṣāda (hunter)
• kāma (desire/love)

FAQs

What is the core ethical principle (Dharma) in this verse?

Honor (pratiṣṭhā) is incompatible with cruelty; violating dharma—killing an innocent being, especially at a vulnerable moment—leads to loss of social and moral standing.

What is the narrative situation?

Vālmīki directly addresses the hunter and utters an imprecation that becomes the celebrated first śloka.

Which character virtue is emphasized?

Satya-informed moral courage: Vālmīki speaks a hard truth against wrongdoing, rooted in compassion for the victim.