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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.37.9

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

1.37.9

bhāṣamāṇaṃ naravyāghraṃ rājapatnyau prasādya tam
ūcatuḥ paramaprīte kṛtāñjalipuṭe tadā

As that tiger among men (the sage) was speaking, the two royal wives, greatly pleased, having won him over, then said to him with cupped hands joined:

Words: bhāṣamāṇaṃ — (him) speaking; naravyāghraṃ — the tiger among men; rājapatnyau — the two royal wives; prasādya — having conciliated, won over; tam — him; ūcatuḥ — the two said; paramaprīte — greatly pleased (dual); kṛtāñjalipuṭe — with cupped hands joined (dual); tadā — then

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.