← 1.41.11 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 41: Story of Sagara: Bhagīratha takes up the ancestral task · 1.41.13 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.41.12
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
1.41.12
sa tapo dīrgham ātiṣṭhad gokarṇe raghunandana
ūrdhvabāhuḥ pañcatapā māsāhāro jitendriyaḥ
He undertook long austerity at Gokarṇa, O joy of the Raghus — arms upraised, amid the five fires, eating but once a month, his senses subdued.
Words: sa — he; tapo — austerity; dīrgham — long; ātiṣṭhad — undertook, stood in; gokarṇe — at Gokarṇa (loc.); raghunandana — O joy of the Raghus; ūrdhvabāhuḥ — with arms upraised; pañcatapā — practising the five fires; māsāhāro — eating (only) once a month; jitendriyaḥ — with senses subdued
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.