← 1.38.25 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 38: Story of Sagara: The stolen horse and the earth’s excavation

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.38.26

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: terrified divine and subterranean beings appeal to Brahmā, reporting that the princes accuse creatures indiscriminately and kill them as supposed horse-thieves.

1.38.26

ayaṃ yajñahano 'smākam anenāśvo 'panīyate
iti te sarvabhūtāni nighnanti sagarātmajaḥ

Saying, ‘This one is the wrecker of our sacrifice; by him the horse has been carried off,' these sons of Sagara are slaying all beings.”

Words: ayaṃ — this (one); yajñahano — the wrecker of the sacrifice; 'smākam — of us, our; anenāśvo — by this one the horse; 'panīyate — is being carried off; iti — thus (saying); te — they; sarvabhūtāni — all beings; nighnanti — kill, slay; sagarātmajaḥ — the sons of Sagara

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.