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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.38.5
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: Viśvāmitra places it between the Himālaya and Vindhya mountains, with Aṃśumat guarding the horse
1.38.5
tayor madhye pravṛtto 'bhūd yajñaḥ sa puruṣottama
sa hi deśo naravyāghra praśasto yajñakarmaṇi
Between those two, O supreme among men, that sacrifice was set in motion; for that region, O tiger among men, is commended for sacrificial rites.
Words: tayor — of those two; madhye — in the middle, between; pravṛtto — set in motion, commenced; 'bhūd — was, became; yajñaḥ — the sacrifice; sa — that; puruṣottama — O supreme among men; sa — that; hi — for, indeed; deśo — region, place; naravyāghra — O tiger among men; praśasto — commended, excellent; yajñakarmaṇi — for the sacrificial rite
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.