The verse and its meaning · Stotras · Stotras — Rama Raksha Stotram

Valmiki, the Singing Cuckoo

Rama Raksha Stotram 34

कूजन्तं रामरामेति मधुरं मधुराक्षरम् । आरुह्य कविताशाखां वन्दे वाल्मीकिकोकिलम्

Meaning · English

I bow to Valmiki, the cuckoo who has climbed onto the branch of poetry and sings 'Rama, Rama', a sweet call in sweet syllables.

The hymn stops to honour Valmiki, the poet who first told Rama's story. It pictures him as a cuckoo, the bird people know for the sweetness of its call. He has climbed onto a branch, and the branch is poetry itself. From there he sings one thing over and over: Rama, Rama. The sound is sweet, and the syllables are sweet, so the name and the voice that carries it match. The poet is honoured for what he sang.

Think of someone at the kitchen sink humming the same short tune again and again. They are not performing for anyone. They just like how it sounds. Before long, people in the next room are humming it too. Valmiki's 'Rama, Rama' works that way: a name repeated out of love, until others pick it up.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Swift as Thought · Rama Raksha Stotram 33
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