← 1.23.29 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 23: Story of Tāṭakā’s forest: Indra’s cleansing and the ruined country

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.23.30

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 commands Rāma to kill her and restore safety to land that no one dares enter.

1.23.30

etat te sarvam ākhyātaṃ yathaitad daruṇaṃ vanam
yakṣyā cotsāditaṃ sarvam adyāpi na nivartate

All this I have told you — how this forest became dreadful, and how it was wholly laid waste by the yakṣī, and even now does not return to its former state.

Words: etat — this; te — to you; sarvam — all; ākhyātaṃ — told, related; yathaitad — how this; daruṇaṃ — dreadful; vanam — forest; yakṣyā — by the yakṣī; cotsāditaṃ — and laid waste; sarvam — wholly, all; adyāpi — even now; na — not; nivartate — turns back, recovers

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.