श्रीवाल्मीकिरुवाच । इत्युक्तवानमलशीतकराभिरामो रामो महत्तरविचारविकासिचेताः । तूष्णीम्बभूव पुरतो महतां घनानां केकारवं श्रमवशादिव नीलकण्ठः ॥ २७ ॥
śrīvālmīkiruvāca | ityuktavānamalaśītakarābhirāmō rāmō mahattaravicāravikāsicētāḥ | tūṣṇīmbabhūva puratō mahatāṁ ghanānāṁ kēkāravaṁ śramavaśādiva nīlakaṇṭhaḥ || 27 ||
Translation
Śrī Vālmīki said: Having spoken thus, Rāma, lovely as the clear, cool-rayed moon, his mind blossoming with the greater inquiry, fell silent before the great ones, as a peacock falls silent, as if from weariness, after crying out before the great clouds.
Word by word
- śrī
- Śrī
- vālmīkir
- (vālmīkiḥ) Vālmīki
- uvāca
- said
- iti
- thus
- uktavān
- having spoken
- amala
- the clear
- śītakara
- cool-rayed moon
- abhirāmō
- (abhirāmaḥ) lovely as
- rāmō
- (rāmaḥ) Rāma
- mahattara
- with the greater
- vicāra
- inquiry
- vikāsi
- blossoming
- cētāḥ
- his mind
- tūṣṇīm
- silent
- babhūva
- fell
- puratō
- (purataḥ) before
- mahatāṁ
- the great
- ghanānāṁ
- the clouds
- kēkā
- the peacock's
- ravaṁ
- crying out
- śrama
- of weariness
- vaśād
- (vaśāt) from
- iva
- as if
- nīlakaṇṭhaḥ
- a peacock
Meaning
The narrator returns, and the discourse that began in 1.12 ends. Rāma is like the clear moon (amala-śīta-kara), cool and bright, his mind opened (vikāsin) by a higher inquiry (mahattara-vicāra). He falls silent before the great sages, as the peacock, the blue-throated one (nīla-kaṇṭha), cries out to the great clouds of the rains and then, as if tired, is still. The image closes the rainy season of verses 1 to 6: the peacock that danced there for greed now cries to the clouds for rain, the rain of teaching. The commentary keeps the picture: Rāma before Vasiṣṭha and the other teachers like a peacock before the clouds. The sarga ends in a vasantatilakā verse and in silence. The reader who has asked a real question and then been quiet, waiting, knows that silence.