← 1.23.26 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 23: Story of Tāṭakā’s forest: Indra’s cleansing and the ruined country · 1.23.28 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.23.27

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

1.23.27

seyaṃ panthānam āvārya vasaty atyardhayojane
ata eva ca gantavyaṃ tāṭakāyā vanaṃ yataḥ

She, blocking the path, dwells at a distance of a yojana and a half; and for that very reason we must go on, for the forest of Tāṭakā lies ahead.

Words: seyaṃ — she, this one; panthānam — the path; āvārya — having blocked, obstructed; vasaty — dwells; atyardhayojane — at a yojana and a half; ata — from this; eva — for this very (reason); ca — and; gantavyaṃ — must be gone, traversed; tāṭakāyā — of Tāṭakā; vanaṃ — the forest; yataḥ — whence, since

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.