Śrīsītārāmakelikaumudī () (2008), literally The moonlight (elucidation) for the [childhood] pastimes of Sītā and Rāma, is a minor poem in the Braja dialect of Hindi (with some verses in Maithili) belonging to the Rītikāvya genre. It was composed by Jagadguru Rambhadracharya (1950–) in the years 2007 and 2008. The work is set in the backdrop of the Bālakāṇḍa of Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa and Tulasīdāsa's Rāmacaritamānasa, and is an assortment of verses describing the activities, pastimes and major events during the childhood of Sītā and Rāma. Śrīsītārāmakelikaumudī consists of 324 verses divided in three parts of 108 verses each. The verses are composed in seven Prakrit metres, namely Amātrika, Kavitta, Gīta, Ghanākṣarī, Caupaiyā, Drumila, and Mattagajendra.
A copy of the epic with a Hindi commentary has been published by the Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University, Chitrakuta, Uttar Pradesh. The book was released on October 30, 2008.
Composition
Jagadguru Rambhadracharya mentions in the prologue of the work that he was traveling to Madhya Pradesh from Chitrakuta on November 25, 2007. He was listening to the poetry of Raskhan, being read out by his disciples. After reading some verses, two of his disciples asked him in why he could not compose such lyrical poetry describing the child forms of Sītā and Rāma, as Raskhan composed describing Kṛṣṇa. The poet accepted their "ingenuous yet challenging" request and composed the first verse almost a month later, on December 23, 2007, in the Kandivali (East) suburb of Mumbai. Till April 2008, he had time to compose just 67 verses of the first part, owing to a busy schedule. Then he happened to travel to Bihar for an 18-day-long Kathā programme in April–May. The poet completed the remaining 260 verses between April 19 and May 1, 2008, on the banks of the Kamala River in the Mithila region of Bihar.
The three parts
The work is divided into three parts, called the three rays by the poet. The first ray is set in Ayodhyā and the subject is the birth (manifestation) of Rāma, followed by the pastimes and events from his childhood. The second ray is set in Mithilā, describing the manifestation, and childhood pastimes and events from the life of Sītā. The first half of the third ray is a description of messages exchanged by Sītā and Rāma through Nārada, and the second half describes Rāma's journey from Ayodhyā to Mithilā and culminates with the marriage of the princes of Ayodhyā with the princesses of Mithilā. Most of the verses describe a sight or activity using various figures of speech, while major events of are Rāmāyaṇa are summed up briefly.
At the end of each part, after the 108th verse, is a concluding 109th verse in which the poet presents a metaphor for the work, wishing that the Vaiṣṇavas in the form of cakora birds ever drink the moonlight of Śrīsītārāmakelikaumudī. In Indian literature, the cakora bird is said to subsist on moonbeams only. This final verse is the same in all the three parts.
Ray One
The first ray () begins with an invocation of Sarasvatī and the poet expressing that his only faith is in the infant form of Rāma (verses 1 to 3). Verses 4 to 5 state that it is the very same Supreme God (Para Brahman) who is without any qualities (Nirguṇa Brahman) that manifests as Rāma who is with qualities (Saguṇa Brahman). The manifestation of Rāma as an infant from the womb of Kauśalyā on the day of Rāmanavamī is described in verses 6 to 18, with eight different similes from natural world forming verses 8 to 15. Verses 19 to 22 show Rāma in the care of Kauśalyā, while verses 23 and 24 show him in the arms of Vasiṣṭha, the Guru of the Raghu dynasty. The features of the baby are the subject of the verses 25 to 27. Verses 28 to 30 describe the festivities in Ayodhyā. Verse 31 shows Rāma in the lap of Kauśalyā. The Nāmakaraṇa Saṃskāra of the four brothers takes place in verse 32, with their features described in verse 33. Kauśalyā and Arundhatī play with Rāma in verses 34 to 38.