← 1.39.11 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 39: Story of Sagara: Kapila’s anger and the sons’ destruction · 1.39.13 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.39.12

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 39: Story of Sagara: Kapila’s anger and the sons’ destruction. The sons pass the elephants supporting the earth and find the horse beside Kapila, they accuse him of theft and his “huṃ” reduces them to ashes

In the sequence: descending again, they encounter Virūpākṣa, the eastern elephant supporting the earth, whose movements cause earthquakes → they honor and circle him

1.39.12

khanyamāne tatas tasmin dadṛśuḥ parvatopamam
diśāgajaṃ virūpākṣaṃ dhārayantaṃ mahītalam

As it was being dug, they then beheld a mountain-like elephant of the quarter, Virūpākṣa, upholding the surface of the earth.

Words: khanyamāne — being dug (loc.); tatas — then; tasmin — that (loc.); dadṛśuḥ — they beheld, saw; parvatopamam — mountain-like; diśāgajaṃ — an elephant of the quarter (world-elephant); virūpākṣaṃ — Virūpākṣa (‘of misshapen eyes’); dhārayantaṃ — upholding, bearing; mahītalam — the surface of the earth

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.