अस्मिन् रामायणे रामकथोपायान् महाबलान् । एतांस्तु प्रथमं कृत्वा पुराऽहमरिमर्दन ॥ ४ ॥
asmin rāmāyaṇē rāmakathōpāyān mahābalān | ētāṁstu prathamaṁ kṛtvā purā’hamarimardana || 4 ||
Translation
In this Rāmāyaṇa, O destroyer of enemies, I first composed these mighty means, the stories of Rāma, long ago,
Word by word
- asmin
- in this
- rāmāyaṇē
- Rāmāyaṇa
- rāma
- of Rāma
- kathā
- the stories
- upāyān
- means
- mahābalān
- mighty
- ētāṁs
- (ētān) these
- tu
- indeed
- prathamaṁ
- first
- kṛtvā
- having composed
- purā
- long ago
- aham
- I
- arimardana
- destroyer of enemies
Meaning
Vālmīki is still speaking to King Ariṣṭanemi ("destroyer of enemies"). He tells how his first Rāmāyaṇa came before this one. The sentence runs on into the next verse.