← 1.37.3 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 37: Story of Sagara: One heir and sixty thousand sons · 1.37.5 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.37.4

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: Sagara undertakes austerity at Bhṛguprasravaṇa, “Bhṛgu’s cascade,” in the Himālaya with his wives Keśinī, a Vidarbha princess, and Sumati, daughter of Ariṣṭanemi

1.37.4

ariṣṭanemiduhitā rūpeṇāpratimā bhuvi
dvitīyā sagarasyāsīt patnī sumatisaṃjñitā

The daughter of Ariṣṭanemi, unrivalled on earth in beauty, was the second wife of Sagara, named Sumati.

Words: ariṣṭanemiduhitā — daughter of Ariṣṭanemi; rūpeṇāpratimā — unrivalled in beauty; bhuvi — on earth; dvitīyā — second; sagarasyāsīt — was Sagara's; patnī — wife; sumatisaṃjñitā — named Sumati

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.