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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.36.22

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 36: Story of Gaṅgā & Umā: Kārttikeya’s birth and six nurses. Gaṅgā releases Agni’s unbearable embryo onto the mountain, its radiance produces minerals and six Kṛttikās nurse the child who becomes the Devas’ commander

In the sequence: its radiance turns the surrounding forest to gold, and gold is henceforth called jātarūpa

1.36.22

jātarūpam iti khyātaṃ tadā prabhṛti rāghava
suvarṇaṃ puruṣavyāghra hutāśanasamaprabham

From that time on, O Rāghava, gold has been known as jātarūpa — gold, O tiger among men, whose radiance equals fire's.

Words: jātarūpam — jātarūpa (‘native form’, i.e. gold); iti — thus (so called); khyātaṃ — known, famed; tadā — then, from that time; prabhṛti — onwards, beginning; rāghava — O Rāghava; suvarṇaṃ — gold; puruṣavyāghra — O tiger among men; hutāśanasamaprabham — whose radiance equals fire's

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.