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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.39.8

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: after searching and digging without finding the horse, the sons return to Sagara → he angrily sends them back to dig farther

1.39.8

na ca paśyāmahe 'śvaṃ tam aśvahartāram eva ca
kiṃ kariṣyāma bhadraṃ te buddhir atra vicāryatām

But we do not see that horse, nor the horse-thief. What shall we do? Bless you — let a plan be deliberated on this.”

Words: na — not; ca — and, but; paśyāmahe — we see; 'śvaṃ — the horse; tam — that; aśvahartāram — the horse-thief; eva — indeed; ca — and; kiṃ — what; kariṣyāma — shall we do; bhadraṃ — welfare, blessing; te — to you; buddhir — a plan, thought; atra — here, on this; vicāryatām — let it be deliberated

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.