← 1.31.1 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 31: Story of Kuśanābha: Vāyu disfigures the hundred daughters · 1.31.3 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.31.2

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: Viśvāmitra recounts that Kuśa, descended from Brahmā, had four sons through a Vidarbha princess and directed them to undertake royal duties

1.31.2

kuśāmbaṃ kuśanābhaṃ ca ādhūrta rajasaṃ vasum
dīptiyuktān mahotsāhān kṣatradharmacikīrṣayā
tān uvāca kuśaḥ putrān dharmiṣṭhān satyavādinaḥ

Kuśāmba, Kuśanābha, Ādhūrtarajasa, and Vasu — endowed with radiance and of great energy — those sons, most righteous and truthful, Kuśa addressed, wishing them to take up the kṣatriya's duty:

Words: kuśāmbaṃ — Kuśāmba; kuśanābhaṃ — Kuśanābha; ca — and; ādhūrta rajasaṃ — Ādhūrtarajasa; vasum — Vasu; dīptiyuktān — endowed with radiance; mahotsāhān — of great energy; kṣatradharmacikīrṣayā — out of a wish to practise the kṣatriya's duty; tān — those; uvāca — spoke to, addressed; kuśaḥ — Kuśa; putrān — sons; dharmiṣṭhān — most righteous; satyavādinaḥ — truthful, truth-speaking

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.