← 1.23.24 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 23: Story of Tāṭakā’s forest: Indra’s cleansing and the ruined country · 1.23.26 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.23.25

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: Tāṭakā, a yakṣiṇī and the shape-changing wife of Sunda and mother of Mārīca, later devastated them → with the strength of a thousand elephants, she now blocks the way ahead

1.23.25

tāṭakā nāma bhadraṃ te bhāryā sundasya dhīmataḥ
mārīco rākṣasaḥ putro yasyāḥ śakraparākramaḥ

Tāṭakā by name — blessings on you — the wife of the wise Sunda, whose son is the rākṣasa Mārīca, of prowess like Śakra's.

Words: tāṭakā — Tāṭakā; nāma — by name; bhadraṃ — blessings, good; te — to you; bhāryā — the wife; sundasya — of Sunda; dhīmataḥ — the wise; mārīco — Mārīca; rākṣasaḥ — a rākṣasa; putro — son; yasyāḥ — of whom, whose; śakraparākramaḥ — of Śakra-like prowess

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.