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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.40.6

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 40: Story of Sagara: Aṃśumat retrieves the horse. Aṃśumat recovers the horse and finds his uncles’ ashes, Garuḍa says only Gaṅgā can redeem them, Sagara completes the sacrifice but cannot bring her down

In the sequence: Aṃśumat follows the excavated passage → he respectfully questions the elephants of the quarters, who encourage him and predict success

1.40.6

sa khātaṃ pitṛbhir mārgam antarbhaumaṃ mahātmabhiḥ
prāpadyata naraśreṣṭha tena rājñābhicoditaḥ

Urged on by that king, O best of men, he entered the subterranean passage that had been dug by his great-souled forefathers.

Words: sa — he; khātaṃ — dug, excavated; pitṛbhir — by the forefathers; mārgam — the path, passage; antarbhaumaṃ — subterranean; mahātmabhiḥ — by the great-souled; prāpadyata — entered, came upon; naraśreṣṭha — O best of men; tena — by that; rājñābhicoditaḥ — urged on by the king

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.