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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.41.11

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 41: Story of Sagara: Bhagīratha takes up the ancestral task. Aṃśumat & Dilīpa leave the ancestral task unfinished, Bhagīratha wins permission for Gaṅgā’s descent and learns that Śiva must receive her

In the sequence: at Gokarṇa he undertakes prolonged austerity, standing with raised arms amid five fires, eating once a month, and controlling his senses

1.41.11

bhagīrathas tu rājarṣir dhārmiko raghunandana
anapatyo mahātejāḥ prajākāmaḥ sa cāprajaḥ

But Bhagīratha, a righteous royal seer, O joy of the Raghus, was without offspring; mighty and longing for progeny, he was yet childless.

Words: bhagīrathas — Bhagīratha; tu — but; rājarṣir — a royal seer; dhārmiko — righteous; raghunandana — O joy of the Raghus; anapatyo — without offspring; mahātejāḥ — mighty, of great splendour; prajākāmaḥ — longing for progeny; sa — he; cāprajaḥ — and childless

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.