Carita-vrataḥ indicates that Vālmīki was filled with abundant knowledge due to his dedication to presenting this Rāmāyaṇa. Kāvyam indicates that it is the product of a poet (kavi), whose very activity is one of description [4]. Specifically, this poet is dedicated to describing a person who is extraordinary (lokottara). A poem is meant to be a spotless combination of words and content decorated with special pleasing attributes.

Although the Rāmāyaṇa is an elucidation of the Vedas, because it communicates like a beloved wife, it is referred to as a poem, kāvya. Indeed, there are three kinds of compositions: those that communicate like a master, those that communicate like a well-wishing friend and those that communicate like a beloved wife. The Vedas communicate like a master. The histories communicate like a well-wishing friend. The poems communicate like a beloved wife.¹

And the Rāmāyaṇa is not just a poem, it is kāvyam mahat, “a great poem.” Its greatness lies in it being a first-class poem due its suggestive nature [5]. From the technical point of view also, it is a mahā-kāvya, for it contains all the characteristics of such a poem as defined by Daṇḍī.

The very word Rāmāyaṇa here indicates that one should not hesitate to discuss this poem on the strength of the prohibition of discussion of poems [6]. This poem is about Rāma, who according to the sages, is the most pleasing of all and endowed with all auspicious qualities [7]. No, this poem is to be discussed, for Bhāmaha, Udbhaṭa and Rudraṭa write that a poem becomes well-established with a description of a great person [8].² The scriptural prohibition pertains to materialistic poems.

Kṛtsnaṁ sītāyāś caritam establishes that this Rāmāyaṇa is secondarily about Lord Rāma’s activities and that the entirety of this book is primarily about Sītā-devī’s activities. This has been noted by Śrī Parāśara Bhaṭṭa in his prayer to Lakṣmī, the Guṇa-ratna-kośa [9]. Likewise, a popular saying refers to the Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa and the Bhāgavatam as discussions about gambling, a woman and a thief respectively:

prātar dyūta-prasaṅgena madhyāhne strī-prasaṅgataḥ
rātrau cora-prasaṅgena kālo gacchati dhīmatām

“The time of the wise is spent by discussing about gambling in the early morning, about a woman in the afternoon and about a thief at night.”³

Indeed, Sītā’s role as the mediator between the conditioned souls seeking the Lord’s shelter and the Lord Himself is brought out in the Rāmāyaṇa [10]. Therefore, Śrī Rāma, a dhīrodātta hero with characteristics such as mercy and avoidance of self-praise, heard the Rāmāyaṇa from Kuśa and Lava. If the Rāmāyaṇa had primarily been about Lord Rāma, it would be out of place for Him to have a recital about Himself in an assembly, but since it was factually about Sītā-devī, it was appropriate for Him to do that.

Having pointed out that this book suggestively describes Sītā and Rāma, Śrī Vālmīki points out that its contents culminate in the destruction of Rāvaṇa, the descendant of Pulasya. This is also a primary explicit theme of this poem.

Dhanañjaya’s Daśa-rūpaka (1.27) notes that there are five elements of a poem and five stages of action in it. These five elements are: (1) the seed, (2) the expansion of the seed, (3) a subplot, (4) subordinate incidents, and (5) the finale [11]. [The definition of each element is also given in Daśa-rūpaka as under:]

The seed manifests as very small in the beginning, but it expands as the action proceeds [12]. This is stated in Canto 1 (the Bāla-kāṇḍa) through events such as the descent of Lord Viṣṇu and the wedding of Sītā-devī.

When the attainment of the goal is interrupted, the cause of its being resumed is the expansion of the seed [13]. In Canto 2 (the Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa), when Lord Rāma is about to be coronated and thus the goal of killing Rāvaṇa is about to be interrupted, the cause of the resumption of the attainment of that goal is manifest in the form of Lord Rāma’s exile into the forest.

A collateral narrative stretching through the poem is called a subplot [14]. For instance, the history of Sugrīva is such a subplot.

An incident subordinate to the main plot of the poem is a subordinate incident [15]. Incidents such as the histories of Vibhīṣaṇa are subordinate incidents.

Appropriate attainment of all desired results is the finale [16]. The killing of Rāvaṇa is an example of this.⁴

The five stages of action are [enlisted in Daśa-rūpaka 1.28 as]: (1) the beginning, (2) the effort to succeed, (3) the prospect of success, (4) the certainty of success, and (5) the attainment of success [17]. Because the finale of the Rāmāyaṇa is the killing of Rāvaṇa, it has been termed paulastya-vadham, “the killing of Rāvaṇa.”

Ity eva here signifies that the sage composed a book primarily describing the character and activities of Śrī Sītā and secondarily describing the character and activities of Lord Rāma on the pretext of describing how Rāvaṇa, the descendant of Pulastya, was killed.

And he had that which he composed sung by his disciples, as it will be clear from the next verse.

NOTE: In The Nectar of Devotion (23), Śrīla Prabhupāda describes that there are four types of heroes, out of whom, a dhīrodātta as “a person who is naturally very grave, gentle, forgiving, merciful, determined, humble, highly qualified, chivalrous and physically attractive.” He also notes therein that many learned scholars accept Lord Rāmacandra as a dhīrodātta.