← 1.15.3 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 15: Daśaratha receives and divides the divine pāyasa · 1.15.5 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.15.4

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

1.15.4

sa hi tepe tapas tīvraṃ dīrghakālam ariṃdama
yena tuṣṭo 'bhavad brahmā lokakṛl lokapūjitaḥ

For he practised fierce austerity for a long time, O tamer of foes, by which Brahmā, maker of the worlds and honoured by the worlds, became pleased.

Words: sa — he; hi — for; tepe — practised, performed (austerity); tapas — austerity; tīvraṃ — fierce, severe; dīrghakālam — for a long time; ariṃdama — O tamer of foes; yena — by which; tuṣṭo — pleased; 'bhavad — became; brahmā — Brahmā; lokakṛl — maker of the worlds; lokapūjitaḥ — honoured by the worlds

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.