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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.39.13

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

1.39.13

saparvatavanāṃ kṛtsnāṃ pṛthivīṃ raghunandana
śirasā dhārayām āsa virūpākṣo mahāgajaḥ

O joy of the Raghus, the great elephant Virūpākṣa bore upon his head the whole earth, with its mountains and forests.

Words: saparvatavanāṃ — with mountains and forests; kṛtsnāṃ — whole, entire; pṛthivīṃ — the earth; raghunandana — O joy of the Raghus; śirasā — with (his) head; dhārayām āsa — bore, upheld; virūpākṣo — Virūpākṣa; mahāgajaḥ — the great elephant

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.