Chapter 4 — Bala Kanda, Sarga 4

Valmiki Ramayana — Bala Kanda

Verse 4.5

कुशीलवौ तु धर्मज्ञौ राजपुत्रौ यशस्विनौ। भ्रातरौ स्वरसम्पन्नौ ददर्शाश्रमवासिनौ ॥ स तु मेधाविनौ दृष्ट्वा वेदेषु परिनिष्ठितौ। वेदोपबृंहणार्थाय तावग्राहयत प्रभुः॥ काव्यं रामायणं कृत्स्नं सीतायाश्चरितं महत्। पौलस्त्यवधमित्येवं चकार चरितव्रतः।७।।

kuśīlavau tu dharmajñau rājaputrau yaśasvinau| bhrātarau svarasampannau dadarśāśramavāsinau || sa tu medhāvinau dṛṣṭvā vedeṣu pariniṣṭhitau| vedopabṛṃhaṇārthāya tāvagrāhayata prabhuḥ|| kāvyaṃ rāmāyaṇaṃ kṛtsnaṃ sītāyāścaritaṃ mahat| paulastyavadhamityevaṃ cakāra caritavrataḥ|7||

English Meaning

And he found those illustrious princes the brothers Kusi and lava, knowing morality, and living in a hermitage, and endowed with rythmic voice, well versed in the Vedas. And finding them of a retentive endowment, and initiated into Vedic studies, that lord thought them how to interpret the Vedas, and that vow-observing one taught them the great Rāmāyaṇa in full, treating of Sītā's great life, and the destruction of Paulastya (Rāvana).

M.N. Dutt (1891–94, public domain)