← 1.31.20 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 31: Story of Kuśanābha: Vāyu disfigures the hundred daughters · 1.31.22 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.31.21
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: the sisters return to the palace → alarmed, Kuśanābha asks who has done this to them as they writhe without speaking.
1.31.21
tāḥ kanyā vāyunā bhagnā viviśur nṛpater gṛham
dṛṣṭvā bhagnās tadā rājā saṃbhrānta idam abravīt
Those maidens, bent double by Vāyu, entered the king's palace; and seeing them thus deformed, the king, alarmed, spoke thus:
Words: tāḥ — those; kanyā — maidens; vāyunā — by Vāyu; bhagnā — bent, deformed; viviśur — entered; nṛpater — of the king; gṛham — house, palace; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; bhagnās — (them) deformed; tadā — then; rājā — the king; saṃbhrānta — alarmed, agitated; idam — this; abravīt — said
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.