← 1.38.5 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 38: Story of Sagara: The stolen horse and the earth’s excavation · 1.38.7 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.38.6
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
1.38.6
tasyāśvacaryāṃ kākutstha dṛḍhadhanvā mahārathaḥ
aṃśumān akarot tāta sagarasya mate sthitaḥ
For it, O Kākutstha, Aṃśumat — strong-bowed, a great chariot-warrior — carried out the guarding of the horse, my dear, abiding by Sagara's counsel.
Words: tasyāśvacaryāṃ — the following/guarding of its horse; kākutstha — O Kākutstha; dṛḍhadhanvā — strong-bowed; mahārathaḥ — great chariot-warrior; aṃśumān — Aṃśumat; akarot — did, performed; tāta — my dear, child; sagarasya — of Sagara; mate — in the counsel/mind (loc.); sthitaḥ — abiding, standing
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.