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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.30.9
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
1.30.9
nāsya devā na gandharvā nāsurā na ca rākṣasāḥ
kartum āropaṇaṃ śaktā na kathaṃ cana mānuṣāḥ
Neither gods nor gandharvas, neither asuras nor rākṣasas, are able to string it — much less humans, in any way whatever.
Words: nāsya — not of it; devā — gods; na — not; gandharvā — gandharvas; nāsurā — nor asuras; na — not; ca — and; rākṣasāḥ — rākṣasas; kartum — to make, do; āropaṇaṃ — the stringing (of the bow); śaktā — able; na — not; kathaṃ cana — in any way at all; mānuṣāḥ — humans, men
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.