श्रीराम उवाच । भगवन् युद्धमेतन्मे समासेन मनाग्वद । श्रुतिराह्लाद्यते श्रोतुर्यस्मादेताभिरुक्तिभिः ॥ १ ॥
śrīrāma uvāca | bhagavan yuddhamētanmē samāsēna manāgvada | śrutirāhlādyatē śrōturyasmādētābhiruktibhiḥ || 1 ||
Translation
Rāma said: Lord, tell me of this battle a little, briefly, for words like these delight the hearer's ear.
Word by word
- bhagavan
- Lord
- yuddham
- battle
- ētan
- (etat) this
- mē
- me
- samāsēna
- briefly
- manāg
- (manāk) a little
- vada
- tell
- śrutir
- (śrutiḥ) the ear
- āhlādyatē
- is delighted
- śrōtur
- (śrotuḥ) of the hearer
- yasmād
- (yasmāt) for
- ētābhir
- (etābhiḥ) by these
- uktibhiḥ
- words
Meaning
Rāma has heard the armies described at length in the last sarga, and asks for the battle itself, but briefly. He is frank about why: these descriptions are a pleasure to hear. The teacher allows it. The long picture that follows is not a digression: it is the world Līlā's husband has made for himself after death, in all its vividness, and the point of the tale is that it is a world of thought.