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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.38.22

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

1.38.22

evaṃ parvatasaṃbādhaṃ jambūdvīpaṃ nṛpātmajāḥ
khananto nṛpaśārdūla sarvataḥ paricakramuḥ

Thus the king's sons, O tiger of a king, digging up Jambūdvīpa, dense with mountains, ranged over it on every side.

Words: evaṃ — thus; parvatasaṃbādhaṃ — dense with mountains; jambūdvīpaṃ — Jambūdvīpa; nṛpātmajāḥ — the king's sons; khananto — digging; nṛpaśārdūla — O tiger of a king; sarvataḥ — on every side; paricakramuḥ — ranged around, roamed over

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.