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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.11.16

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 11: Aśvamedha yajña: Release of the horse and preparations. Ṛṣyaśṛṅga orders the horse released, Daśaratha commissions the sacrificial ground on the Sarayū’s northern bank and warns that ritual errors endanger the patron

In the sequence: he warns that learned brahma-rākṣasas seek ritual faults and that a flawed sacrifice endangers its patron → the ministers agree to arrange everything correctly, and the assembly disperses.

1.11.16

śakyaḥ kartum ayaṃ yajñaḥ sarveṇāpi mahīkṣitā
nāparādho bhavet kaṣṭo yady asmin kratusattame

This sacrifice can be performed by any king at all, provided no grievous fault occur in this best of sacrifices.

Words: śakyaḥ — possible, able to be; kartum — to be performed; ayaṃ — this; yajñaḥ — sacrifice; sarveṇāpi — by any at all; mahīkṣitā — by a king; nāparādho — no fault; bhavet — should occur; kaṣṭo — grievous, serious; yady — if; asmin — in this; kratusattame — best of sacrifices

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.