← 1.38.20 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 38: Story of Sagara: The stolen horse and the earth’s excavation · 1.38.22 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.38.21

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: the earth cries out, and nāgas, asuras, rākṣasas, and other creatures are killed as the excavation reaches Rasātala

1.38.21

yojanānāṃ sahasrāṇi ṣaṣṭiṃ tu raghunandana
bibhidur dharaṇīṃ vīrā rasātalam anuttamam

The heroes dug up the earth for sixty thousand yojanas, O joy of the Raghus, down to the peerless nether world, Rasātala.

Words: yojanānāṃ — of yojanas; sahasrāṇi — thousands; ṣaṣṭiṃ — sixty; tu — and; raghunandana — O joy of the Raghus; bibhidur — dug up, broke through; dharaṇīṃ — the earth; vīrā — the heroes; rasātalam — Rasātala (the nether world); anuttamam — peerless, unsurpassed

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.