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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.22.13

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 22: Story of Kāma: The loss of his body. At the Sarayū–Gaṅgā confluence, Viśvāmitra recounts how Śiva’s fiery gaze destroyed Kāma’s body, the travellers stay at the hermitage

In the sequence: Viśvāmitra tells an earlier story: Kāma once possessed a body → here he assailed Śiva during his disciplined austerities → Śiva's fierce gaze burned his limbs and destroyed his body

1.22.13

tasya gātraṃ hataṃ tatra nirdagdhasya mahātmanā
aśarīraḥ kṛtaḥ kāmaḥ krodhād deveśvareṇa ha

There the body of that (Kāma), burnt up by the great one, was destroyed; Kāma was rendered bodiless by the lord of gods (Śiva) in his wrath.

Words: tasya — his; gātraṃ — body, limb; hataṃ — destroyed, struck down; tatra — there; nirdagdhasya — of (him) burnt up; mahātmanā — by the great one; aśarīraḥ — bodiless; kṛtaḥ — made, rendered; kāmaḥ — Kāma; krodhād — out of wrath; deveśvareṇa — by the lord of gods; ha — indeed

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.