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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.13.26

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 13: Aśvamedha yajña: The horse’s return and completion of the rites. The returning horse is sacrificed with prescribed posts, a Garuḍa-shaped altar and continual hospitality, Daśaratha rewards the priests and requests the rite for sons

In the sequence: the priests assign the sacrificial creatures to their respective devatās, including birds, serpents, aquatic creatures, and the horse → three hundred animals are bound to the posts along with Daśaratha's excellent horse. Kausalyā circles the horse and cuts it with three knives, with great joy

1.13.26

kausalyā taṃ hayaṃ tatra paricarya samantataḥ
kṛpāṇair viśaśāsainaṃ tribhiḥ paramayā mudā

Kausalyā, having circled that horse on every side there, cut it with three knives, with the greatest joy.

Words: kausalyā — Kausalyā; taṃ — that; hayaṃ — horse; tatra — there; paricarya — having gone around, tended; samantataḥ — on every side; kṛpāṇair — with knives; viśaśāsainaṃ — cut it; tribhiḥ — with three; paramayā — with the greatest; mudā — joy

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.