Canto 1 - Boyhood
Bāla-kāṇḍa
Chapter 4: Kuśa and Lava Meet Lord Rāmacandra
Text 1.4.2
चतुर्विंशतिसहस्राणि श्लोकानामुक्तवानृषिः।
तथा सर्गशतान्पञ्च षट्काण्डानि तथोत्तरम्॥
catur-viṁśati-sahasrāṇi ślokānām uktavān ṛṣiḥ
tathā sarga-śatān pañca ṣaṭ-kāṇḍāni tathottaram
catur-viṁśati-sahasrāṇi = 24,000; ślokānām = ślokas; uktavān = spoke; ṛṣiḥ = ṛṣi; tathā = and; sarga-śatān pañca = five hundred chapters; ṣaṭ-kāṇḍāni = in six cantos; tathā = and; uttaram = [the] Uttara-kāṇḍa (Canto 7).
The Ṛṣi spoke 24,000 ślokas, with five hundred chapters in six cantos, and the Uttara-kāṇḍa (Canto 7).
This is an approximate listing of the number of verses, chapters and cantos. The seventh canto has been separately enlisted here as the Uttara-kāṇḍa as it is the most important canto (sarvottara), for it explicitly describes Lord Rāma’s supremacy and His unique features as the one who can award final liberation from material existence.