← 1.30.9 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 30: Departure for Mithilā and the camp beside the Śoṇā · 1.30.11 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.30.10

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 30: Departure for Mithilā and the camp beside the Śoṇā. The ṛṣis invite the princes to Janaka’s sacrifice and the bow no suitor has strung, a camp beside the Śoṇā prompts the region’s history

In the sequence: they explain that neither Devas, gandharvas, asuras and rākṣasas nor the Kings who tested it could string it → the maharṣis say Janaka obtained it from the Devas as a sacrificial reward

1.30.10

dhanuṣas tasya vīryaṃ hi jijñāsanto mahīkṣitaḥ
na śekur āropayituṃ rājaputrā mahābalāḥ

For kings, wishing to test the power of that bow — mighty princes — were unable to string it.

Words: dhanuṣas — of the bow; tasya — that; vīryaṃ — power, valour; hi — for, indeed; jijñāsanto — wishing to know, to test; mahīkṣitaḥ — kings, rulers of the earth; na — not; śekur — were able; āropayituṃ — to string, to bend on; rājaputrā — princes; mahābalāḥ — mighty

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.