न ते वागनृता काव्ये काचिदत्र भविष्यति।
कुरु रामकथां पुण्यां श्लोकबद्धां मनोरमाम्॥
na te vāg anṛtā kāvye kācid atra bhaviṣyati
kuru rāma-kathāṁ puṇyāṁ śloka-baddhāṁ mano-ramām
na = never; te = your; vāk = words; anṛtā = convey untrue; kāvye = in poem; kācit = anything; atra = this; bhaviṣyati = would; kuru = compose; rāma-kathām = a narration on Lord Rāma puṇyam = that is pious; śloka-baddhām = and in verses; mano-ramām = charming.
Your words in this poem would never convey anything untrue. Compose a narration on Lord Rāma that is pious, charming and in verses.
1 Harṣa-carita is a biography of a king named Harṣa by Bāṇa Bhaṭṭa. Even though this a recent poem, written in this Kali-yuga, the commentator gives this as an example to help us understand what exactly Lord Brahmā wanted Vālmīki to write.
Having blessed the sage that he would be able to perceive reality as it is, Lord Brahmā blesses him that he will convey all that he perceives as it is. In this poem that Brahmā wants written, none of the sage’s statements would turn out to convey any untruth. Vāk and anṛtā can also respectively mean “word” and “defective,” indicating that none of the words in the poem would be defective. In other words, there would be no defects from the perspective of poetry and no defects in the meaning of the words and statements as far as their correspondence to reality goes.
Śrī Brahmā then states the purpose for which the Rāmāyaṇa should be composed. Puṇyām, “pious,” indicates that it should remove the sinful reactions of its readers. Another purpose is indicated by the word mano-ramām, “charming”: immediately upon hearing the sounds of the poem, it should produce a joy that melts away all other experiences. Śloka-baddhām indicates that the entire work should be in verses. It should neither be a prose work (like the Harṣa-carita) nor a work containing prose and poetry (like the dramas).1