← 1.37.19 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 37: Story of Sagara: One heir and sixty thousand sons · 1.37.21 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.37.20

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: Asamañja terrorizes the citizens by throwing children into the Sarayū and laughing as they drown → Sagara banishes him

1.37.20

sa ca jyeṣṭho naraśreṣṭha sagarasyātmasaṃbhavaḥ
bālān gṛhītvā tu jale sarayvā raghunandana
prakṣipya prahasan nityaṃ majjatas tān nirīkṣya vai

And that eldest son, O best of men, born of Sagara — O joy of the Raghus — would seize children and, casting them into the water of the Sarayū, laughing all the while, watch them as they drowned.

Words: sa — he; ca — and; jyeṣṭho — the eldest; naraśreṣṭha — O best of men; sagarasyātmasaṃbhavaḥ — born of Sagara; bālān — children, boys; gṛhītvā — having seized, taken; tu — but, and; jale — in the water; sarayvā — of the Sarayū; raghunandana — O joy of the Raghus; prakṣipya — having thrown, cast; prahasan — laughing; nityaṃ — always, constantly; majjatas — as they were drowning; tān — them; nirīkṣya — watching, looking on; vai — indeed

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.