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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.41.9

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: after many sacrifices and thirty thousand years of rule, Dilīpa installs Bhagīratha and dies of illness, his purpose still unfulfilled. Bhagīratha too is childless

1.41.9

agatvā niścayaṃ rājā teṣām uddharaṇaṃ prati
vyādhinā naraśārdūla kāladharmam upeyivān

Not having reached any certainty regarding their deliverance, the king, O tiger among men, met the law of time (death) through illness.

Words: agatvā — not having reached; niścayaṃ — certainty; rājā — the king; teṣām — of them, their; uddharaṇaṃ — deliverance, rescue; prati — concerning, with regard to; vyādhinā — by illness, disease; naraśārdūla — O tiger among men; kāladharmam — the law of time (death); upeyivān — went to, met, attained

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.