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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.23.16

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 23: Story of Tāṭakā’s forest: Indra’s cleansing and the ruined country. The Sarayū’s origin and confluence are explained, Indra’s cleansing gives Malada & Karūṣa their names and Tāṭakā’s devastation makes the region impassable

In the sequence: Viśvāmitra recounts how Indra incurred the guilt of brāhmaṇa-killing after slaying Vṛtra and was afflicted with impurity and hunger → the Devas and ṛṣis bathed him with pitchers, depositing his bodily impurities, mala and karūṣa, on this land → relieved and grateful, Indra granted the lands a boon: they would become renowned as Malada and Karūṣa for having borne his bodily impurity → the Devas acclaim Indra’s honoring of the land → the regions flourish for many years, prosperous in wealth and grain

1.23.16

etau janapadau sphītau pūrvam āstāṃ narottama
maladāś ca karūṣāś ca devanirmāṇa nirmitau

These two territories were formerly flourishing, O best of men — Malada and Karūṣa — fashioned by the making of the gods.

Words: etau — these two; janapadau — two territories, countries; sphītau — flourishing, prosperous (the two); pūrvam — formerly; āstāṃ — the two were; narottama — O best of men; maladāś — Malada; ca — and; karūṣāś — Karūṣa; ca — and; devanirmāṇa — by divine making; nirmitau — fashioned (the two)

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.