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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.23.26

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

1.23.26

imau janapadau nityaṃ vināśayati rāghava
maladāṃś ca karūṣāṃś ca tāṭakā duṣṭacāriṇī

Tāṭakā of evil ways constantly lays waste these two territories, O Rāghava — Malada and Karūṣa.

Words: imau — these two; janapadau — two territories; nityaṃ — constantly; vināśayati — lays waste, destroys; rāghava — O Rāghava; maladāṃś — Malada; ca — and; karūṣāṃś — Karūṣa; ca — and; tāṭakā — Tāṭakā; duṣṭacāriṇī — of evil conduct

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.