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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.12.6

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 12: Aśvamedha yajña: Construction, invitations and hospitality. Vasiṣṭha organizes construction, food and lodging, Sumantra invites the guests and Daśaratha enters the enclosure to begin the rites

In the sequence: Vasiṣṭha calls the ritual specialists, builders, carpenters, diggers, accountants, craftspeople, and performers → he orders many thousands of bricks brought and comfortable lodgings built for Kings, brāhmaṇas, townspeople, and country visitors, with abundant food and drink

1.12.6

sthāpatye niṣṭhitāṃś caiva vṛddhān paramadhārmikān
karmāntikāñ śilpakārān vardhakīn khanakān api

and those elders, most righteous, skilled in architecture — the labourers, the artisans, the carpenters and the diggers too,

Words: sthāpatye — in architecture, building; niṣṭhitāṃś — skilled; caiva — and; vṛddhān — elders; paramadhārmikān — most righteous; karmāntikāñ — the labourers, workmen; śilpakārān — the artisans; vardhakīn — the carpenters; khanakān — the diggers, excavators; api — also

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.