← 1.32.11 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 32: Story of Kuśanābha: Brahmadatta restores the daughters · 1.32.13 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.32.12

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 32: Story of Kuśanābha: Brahmadatta restores the daughters. Kuśanābha praises their restraint and arranges marriage to Brahmadatta, whose touch restores each sister as he takes her hand

In the sequence: Kuśanābha praises their united restraint, calling patience an ornament of both women and men and a foundation of dharma → he consults his ministers about suitable marriages. Viśvāmitra introduces the man they will marry through a second story: the maharṣi Cūlī, an ūrdhvaretas (one who restrains his generative energy) is served devotedly by Somadā, a gandharva woman and daughter of Ūrmilā

1.32.12

tapyantaṃ tam ṛṣiṃ tatra gandharvī paryupāsate
somadā nāma bhadraṃ te ūrmilā tanayā tadā

There, as that seer practised austerity, a gandharva woman waited upon him — Somadā by name, blessings on you, then the daughter of Ūrmilā.

Words: tapyantaṃ — practising austerity; tam — him; ṛṣiṃ — the seer; tatra — there; gandharvī — a gandharva woman; paryupāsate — attends upon, waits on; somadā — Somadā; nāma — by name; bhadraṃ — a blessing; te — to you; ūrmilā — of Ūrmilā; tanayā — daughter, offspring; tadā — then

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.