← 1.15.4 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 15: Daśaratha receives and divides the divine pāyasa · 1.15.6 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.15.5

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

1.15.5

saṃtuṣṭaḥ pradadau tasmai rākṣasāya varaṃ prabhuḥ
nānāvidhebhyo bhūtebhyo bhayaṃ nānyatra mānuṣāt

Well pleased, the lord granted that rākṣasa a boon: (safety) from beings of every kind — danger from nowhere save from a human.

Words: saṃtuṣṭaḥ — well pleased; pradadau — granted, gave; tasmai — to him; rākṣasāya — to the rākṣasa; varaṃ — a boon; prabhuḥ — the lord; nānāvidhebhyo — from various kinds; bhūtebhyo — from beings; bhayaṃ — fear, danger; nānyatra — nowhere else; mānuṣāt — than from a human

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.