← 1.15.1 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 15: Daśaratha receives and divides the divine pāyasa · 1.15.3 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.15.2
Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 15: Daśaratha receives and divides the divine pāyasa. Viṣṇu chooses Daśaratha as his father, a being emerges from the fire with divine pāyasa and the King distributes it among his wives
In the sequence: Viṣṇu asks how Rāvaṇa can be killed, although he already knows → the Suras explain again that Rāvaṇa's contempt for humans left them outside his protection → Viṣṇu chooses Daśaratha as his father
1.15.2
upāyaḥ ko vadhe tasya rākṣasādhipateḥ surāḥ
yam ahaṃ taṃ samāsthāya nihanyām ṛṣikaṇṭakam
“What is the means for the slaying of that lord of rākṣasas, O gods — resorting to which I might slay that thorn to the seers?”
Words: upāyaḥ — means, expedient; ko — what; vadhe — in the slaying; tasya — of him; rākṣasādhipateḥ — of the lord of rākṣasas; surāḥ — O gods; yam — which; ahaṃ — I; taṃ — that; samāsthāya — having resorted to, adopted; nihanyām — I might slay; ṛṣikaṇṭakam — thorn to the seers
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.