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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.23.9
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 explains that Brahmā created Lake Mānasa on Kailāsa through his mind, and that the Sarayū flows from it past Ayodhyā → the roar arises from the churning and agitation of the waters as the Sarayū meets the Gaṅgā → the brothers salute both rivers, land on the southern bank, and continue. Entering a dense, frightening forest full of predators and harsh animal cries, Rāma asks about it
1.23.9
tasyāyam atulaḥ śabdo jāhnavīm abhivartate
vārisaṃkṣobhajo rāma praṇāmaṃ niyataḥ kuru
This incomparable sound of it, born of the churning of the waters, advances toward the Jāhnavī (Gaṅgā); make your reverent salutation, O Rāma, with self-control.
Words: tasyāyam — this of it; atulaḥ — incomparable; śabdo — sound; jāhnavīm — toward the Jāhnavī (Gaṅgā); abhivartate — advances, rushes toward; vārisaṃkṣobhajo — born of the churning of the waters; rāma — O Rāma; praṇāmaṃ — salutation, reverence; niyataḥ — self-controlled, reverent; kuru — make, do
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.