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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.41.6

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: Dilīpa is preoccupied with bringing Gaṅgā down and redeeming the dead, but finds no means → his son Bhagīratha is born

1.41.6

kathaṃ gaṅgāvataraṇaṃ kathaṃ teṣāṃ jalakriyā
tārayeyaṃ kathaṃ caitān iti cintā paro 'bhavat

“How is Gaṅgā's descent to be brought about, how the water-rite for them, and how may I deliver these?” — with such thought he became wholly absorbed.

Words: kathaṃ — how; gaṅgāvataraṇaṃ — the descent of Gaṅgā; kathaṃ — how; teṣāṃ — for them, of them; jalakriyā — the water-rite; tārayeyaṃ — may I deliver, carry across; kathaṃ — how; caitān — and these; iti — thus; cintā — thought, anxiety; paro — wholly absorbed (in); 'bhavat — he became

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.