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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.38.15

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 38: Story of Sagara: The stolen horse and the earth’s excavation. Indra steals the sacrificial horse, Sagara sends his sixty thousand sons to dig for it and the devastation drives the earth’s inhabitants to Brahmā

In the sequence: Sagara orders his sixty thousand sons to search the entire earth, each covering a yojana-wide tract and digging until the horse and thief are found → he remains consecrated at the sacrifice with Aṃśumat and the priests

1.38.15

yāvat turagasaṃdarśas tāvat khanata medinīm
tam eva hayahartāraṃ mārgamāṇā mamājñayā

Dig up the earth until the horse comes into sight, searching out that very horse-thief, by my command.

Words: yāvat — until, as long as; turagasaṃdarśas — the sighting of the horse; tāvat — so long, until then; khanata — dig (pl.); medinīm — the earth; tam — that; eva — very; hayahartāraṃ — the horse-thief; mārgamāṇā — searching, seeking; mamājñayā — by my command

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.