← 1.37.13 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 37: Story of Sagara: One heir and sixty thousand sons · 1.37.15 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.37.14

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 37: Story of Sagara: One heir and sixty thousand sons. Sagara’s wives choose one dynastic heir or sixty thousand sons, the many grow in ghee-filled pots while Asamañja is banished for killing children

In the sequence: when the Queens ask which will receive which, he leaves the choice to them → Keśinī chooses the dynastic heir, while Sumati, Garuḍa's sister, chooses the sixty thousand

1.37.14

ṣaṣṭiṃ putrasahasrāṇi suparṇabhaginī tadā
mahotsāhān kīrtimato jagrāha sumatiḥ sutān

And Sumati, the sister of Suparṇa (Garuḍa), then chose sixty thousand sons, of great energy and glorious.

Words: ṣaṣṭiṃ — sixty; putrasahasrāṇi — thousands of sons; suparṇabhaginī — the sister of Suparṇa (Garuḍa); tadā — then; mahotsāhān — of great energy; kīrtimato — glorious; jagrāha — chose, took; sumatiḥ — Sumati; sutān — sons

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.