Bāla Kāṇḍa·Śloka 1·0.1
वर्णानामर्थसङ्घानां रसानां छन्दसामपि।
मङ्गलानां च कर्त्तारौ वन्दे वाणीविनायकौ॥
varṇānām arthasaṅghānāṁ rasānāṁ chandasām api |
maṅgalānāṁ ca karttārau vande vāṇīvināyakau ||
English rendering
I bow to Vāṇī and Vināyaka — Sarasvatī and Gaṇeśa — who together are the makers of syllables, of the meanings those syllables carry, of the moods those meanings evoke, of the meters those moods take, and of every auspicious beginning.
हिन्दी अनुवाद
वर्णों के, अर्थसमूहों के, रसों के, छन्दों के, तथा समस्त मंगलों के जो कर्ता हैं — उन वाणी (सरस्वती) और विनायक (गणेश) की मैं वन्दना करता हूँ।
Context — editorial
The very first verse of the Rāmcaritamānas. Before naming any god or hero of his epic, Tulsīdās bows to the sources of language itself — the poem is laid at the feet of speech before it is laid at the feet of Rāma.