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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.34.12

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 34: Story of Gaṅgā & Umā: Himavat’s two daughters. Himavat gives Gaṅgā to the Devas for the worlds’ welfare, while Umā undertakes austerity and marries Śiva

In the sequence: Rāma asks how Gaṅgā came to travel through the three worlds. Viśvāmitra explains that Himavat and Menā, daughter of Meru, had two daughters: Gaṅgā the elder and Umā the younger

1.34.12

śailendro himavān nāma dhātūnām ākaro mahān
tasya kanyā dvayaṃ rāma rūpeṇāpratimaṃ bhuvi

There is a lord of mountains named Himavat, a great mine of minerals; he has two daughters, Rāma, unmatched in beauty on earth.

Words: śailendro — the lord of mountains; himavān — Himavat, the Himālaya; nāma — by name; dhātūnām — of minerals, metals; ākaro — a mine, source; mahān — great; tasya — his; kanyā — daughters; dvayaṃ — a pair, two; rāma — O Rāma; rūpeṇāpratimaṃ — unmatched in beauty; bhuvi — on earth

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.