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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.31.18
Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 31: Story of Kuśanābha: Vāyu disfigures the hundred daughters. Vāyu proposes marriage, the sisters insist on their father’s consent and Vāyu enters their limbs and leaves them hunchbacked
In the sequence: they acknowledge his power but reject his approach → they say they could curse him but will preserve their austerity, and insist that he respect their father → they say they await a svayaṃvara and will accept the husband their father gives them
1.31.18
mā bhūt sa kālo durmedhaḥ pitaraṃ satyavādinam
nāvamanyasva dharmeṇa svayaṃvaram upāsmahe
May that time never come, O dull-witted one! Do not, in defiance of dharma, insult our truth-speaking father; by his will we await the rite of self-choice.
Words: mā bhūt — may (it) never be; sa — that; kālo — time, occasion; durmedhaḥ — O dull-witted one; pitaraṃ — father; satyavādinam — truth-speaking; nāvamanyasva — do not slight, disregard; dharmeṇa — by dharma, righteously; svayaṃvaram — the self-choice (marriage rite); upāsmahe — we abide by, await
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.