भगवन् श्रोतुमिच्छावो यस्मिन् काले निशाचरौ। संरक्षणीयौ तौ ब्रह्मन्नातिवर्तेत तत्क्षणम्।।1.30.2।।
Meaning
Blessed one, we wish to know at what hour the night-wanderers come, so that moment does not slip past us unguarded.
Word-by-word (pada-artha)
| Word | Devanagari | Meaning | Grammatical role |
|---|---|---|---|
| bhagavan śrotum icchāvaḥ | भगवन् श्रोतुम् इच्छावः | O blessed one, we two wish to hear | Vocative / Infinitive / Verb (present, dual) |
| yasmin kāle niśā-carau | यस्मिन् काले निशा-चरौ | at what time the two night-roamers | Locative singular / Nominative dual |
| saṃrakṣaṇīyau tau brahman | संरक्षणीयौ तौ ब्रह्मन् | those two are to be guarded against, O Brahmin | Nominative dual / Vocative |
| na ativarteta tat-kṣaṇam | न अतिवर्तेत तत्-क्षणम् | so that that moment may not pass unnoticed | Verb (optative) / Accusative |
Scholar commentary
valmikiramayan.net Prose Commentary
Desiraju Hanumanta Rao's prose rendering with embedded explanatory notes
The source flags a grammarian's difficulty in this verse: the word order suggests the princes are asking 'at which time are the two demons to be safeguarded by us,' which reads oddly. Rama Tilaka resolves this by attributing 'to be safeguarded' (rakshNiiyau) to the ritual itself, not to the demons -- the princes are asking from whom the ritual is to be safeguarded, not asking about safeguarding the demons.
1 of 16 traditions have commentary on this shloka. Traditions without a verse-specific commentary here are omitted rather than filled in.
Reference: 1.30.2 · Bāla Kāṇḍa