वाल्मीकेः आगमनं कुशलवयोः आदेशश्च

While that most wonderful sacrifice was going on, the holy seer Vālmīki arrived in haste with his disciples. When he saw the sacrifice, divine and wonderful to behold, he built fine huts of leaves for himself in a secluded spot near the enclosures of the seers. Close to his own lovely enclosure he had many carts set down, full of fine fruits and roots. Honoured by King Rāma and by the great sages, the radiant and self-possessed Vālmīki took up his dwelling there. Here the chief setting of the sarga is laid: the sage who had sheltered Sītā in his hermitage is now himself present at Rāma's sacrifice, and he brings Sītā's two sons with him as his disciples. Rāma does not know that these disciples are his own sons. "Secluded" suggests that the sage stayed away from the crowd, so that the boys' identity might remain hidden. The carts full of fruits and roots show the sage's self-reliance; he does not depend on the king's food. "Self-possessed" points to his self-restraint, and the coming of the first of poets himself adds to the splendour of the sacrifice.

He said to his two happy disciples: "Go, both of you, with full attention, and sing the whole poem, the Rāmāyaṇa, with the greatest joy. Sing it in the holy enclosures of the seers and in the brahmins' dwellings, in the streets and on the royal roads and in the houses of the kings, and above all at the door of Rāma's residence, where the brahmins are performing the rite, in front of the officiating priests. Here are sweet fruits of many kinds that grow on the mountain tops; keep tasting them as you sing. If you eat these fruits and these delicious roots, my children, you will not tire, nor will the sweetness of your voices fade. And if Rāma, lord of the earth, sends for you to hear you, conduct yourselves fittingly before the seers seated there." The sage's instructions are subtle: first sing everywhere, so that the world may know the poem, and above all at Rāma's door, so that Rāma himself may hear it. Eating fruits and roots to keep the throat smooth and the voice sweet is practical advice for singers. "Conduct yourselves fittingly" teaches courtesy, for humility is needed in a royal assembly. If the song spreads everywhere, Rāma's fame too will spread through the world, and that is also the sage's purpose.

"Sing twenty cantos a day in a sweet voice, keeping to the many measures I have taught you. Do not feel even the slightest greed for wealth; what use is wealth to hermitage-dwellers who live always on fruits and roots? If Kākutstha asks, 'Whose sons are you, boys?', tell the king only this: 'We are two disciples of Vālmīki.' Tune these sweet strings and this unusual scale, and sing sweetly and without anxiety. Begin from the very beginning, and never show disrespect to the king, for by dharma the king is the father of all beings. So tomorrow at dawn, happy and composed, sing the sweet song in time with the strings." There are three hidden lessons here: take no wealth, do not reveal your father's name, and never slight the king. "The king is the father of all beings" has a double meaning: the king is everyone's father, but to these two boys he is also their father in truth, and the sage, knowing this, does not say it. The answer to "whose sons are you?", "Vālmīki's disciples", is true but incomplete, so that their identity may be revealed in its proper time. In the next sarga the boys refuse the gold, the fruit of this lesson against greed. The rule of twenty cantos a day fixes the order and measure of the singing.

When he had given these many instructions, the noble great sage Vālmīki, son of Pracetas, fell silent. So instructed by the sage, the two sons of Maithilī, subduers of foes, said, "We will do just that," and went out. Keeping the seer's wonderful words in their hearts, the two eager boys spent the night happily, as the two Aśvins hold fast in their hearts to the teaching of polity laid down by Bhārgava. Here the poet calls them "sons of Maithilī": the reader knows it, Rāma does not. "Eager" shows their longing to sing at dawn. "Son of Pracetas" names Vālmīki by his father, and later, in the sarga of Sītā's oath, he will himself say, "I am the tenth son of Pracetas." So the sarga closes in calm, and in the next the singing before Rāma begins. The boys' devotion and obedience to their teacher are plain to see.