There lived for a long time a vulture and an own on a mountain extending over the banks of a river, resonant with the notes of cuckoos and filled with lions, tigers and various birds, situated in a pleasant forest abounding in trees near the city of Ayodhyā. Once on a time the vicious vulture alleging that the nest of the owl was his own, began to quarrel with "The lotus-eyed Rama is the king of all people; let us go to him and he will decide to whom the nest belongs."
अथ तस्मिन्वनोद्देश रम्ये पादपशोभिते। नदीकोणे गिरिवरे कोकिलानेककूजिते॥ सिंहव्याघ्रसमाकीर्णे नानाद्विजगणावृते। गृध्रोलको प्रवसतो बहुवर्षगणानपि॥ अथोलूकस्य भवनं गृध्रः पापविनिश्चयः। ममेदमिति कृत्वासौ कलहं तेन चाकरोत्॥ राजा सर्वस्य लोकस्य रामो राजीवलोचनः। तं प्रपद्यावहे शीघ्रं यस्यैतद्भवनं भवेत्॥