This was Śrī Vālmīki’s curse upon the hunter. Samāḥ means “years” [8]. Pratiṣṭhām means “any fixed position” in this context [9].

The first line can also be split as follows: mā niṣāda pratiṣṭhāṁ tv ama gamaḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ. Here, ama would mean, “O inauspicious one,” referring to the hunter. The meaning of the line would then be: “O inauspicious hunter, may you never attain a fixed position for enjoyment for an unlimited number of years.” The first half of the verse states the curse, while the second half of the verse states Vālmīki’s reason for cursing the hunter. He indicates that the hunter would never attain a fixed position of enjoyment, like the male bird he killed.

As it will become obvious later in this chapter, this is the first verse uttered by Vālmīki by the mercy of the four-headed Brahmā. The previous ācāryas assert that as such it cannot merely be a verse expressing a curse, and that it is also an invocation of auspiciousness in glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, another meaning of this verse is as follows:

Niṣāda can also mean “residence.” Mā can also refer to Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune. Mā-niṣāda would then be one word meaning “O residence of the goddess of fortune!” The remaining words in the first line would then yield this meaning: “May You attain glory for an unlimited number of years, for all time.”

Krauñca-mithunāt can refer to the crooked rākṣasa Rāvaṇa and his mate Maṇḍodarī [10]. One of them (ekam), Rāvaṇa, was overcome by lust (kāma-mohitam) and kidnapped Sītā-devī. And avadhīḥ: “You killed him.”

The meaning of the second line would then be: “For You killed that one member of the rākṣasa couple who was overcome by lust.” The implication is: “By killing Rāvaṇa, You have protected the three worlds. May You be victorious for all time!”

Thus, the sage Vālmīki has invoked auspiciousness by remembering his worshipable deity.

That very verse briefly hints at the events to be related later in this poem [11]. Mā-niṣāda, “O residence of the goddess of fortune,” is a reference to the events of the Bāla-kāṇḍa (Canto 1) that culminate in the wedding of Sītā-devī. Pratiṣṭhāṁ tvam agamaḥ, “May You attain glory,” is a reference to the glory of carrying out the orders of His father, as set out in the Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa (Canto 2). Śāśvatīḥ samāḥ, “for an unlimited number of years,” reinforces Lord Rāma’s maintaining His glory in the forest while in exile by His carrying out His promises to the sages residing there; this is a reference to the Araṇya-kāṇḍa (Canto 3). Krauñca-mithunāt can refer to the two crooked animals, Tārā and Vālī; Lord Rāma killed one of them, Vālī, who was overcome by lust for Sugrīva’s wife (kāma-mohitam), and this is a reference to events to be described in the Kiṣkindhā-kāṇḍa (Canto 4). Krauñca-mithunāt can also refer to “the emaciated couple,” a reference to Sītā and Rāma themselves, who became emaciated out of distress upon being separated from each other; the meaning would then be, “You gave her extreme pain, (almost) killing her, one of the couple, when she was separated from You,” and this is a reference to Sītā-devī’s extreme pain of separation from her Lord as recounted in the Sundara-kāṇḍa (Canto 5). Taking krauñca-mithunāt to refer to Maṇḍodarī and Rāvaṇa, it refers to the Yuddha-kāṇḍa (Canto 6) when Lord Rāma killed the one overcome by lust, Rāvaṇa. Kāma-mohitam can also refer to the one member of the couple Sītā-Rāma who became obssessed with the desire to see the wives of the sages of Daṇḍakāraṇya—Sītā-devī—and Lord Rāma pained her by separating her from Him; this is a reference to events to be described in the Uttara-kāṇḍa (Canto 7).

One might object: How can the sage curse a hunter, whose hereditary duty (kula-dharma) was to kill deer, birds and other creatures, and who was hence offenseless? Moreover, Lord Rāma Himself will affirm while killing Vālī that it is indeed offenseless on the part of such a person to kill creatures of the forest [12].

True. Nevertheless, the sage’s intention is to establish that to kill an animal when it is overcome by the desire to mate is certainly wrong. And he indicates this by using the word kāma-mohitam. Therefore, in the Mahābhārata, a sage tells Pāṇḍu that no learned person should kill an animal in the forest while engaged in mating and indicates that such an act is sinful [13].