← 1.43.19 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 43: Story of Sagara: Gaṅgā redeems the sixty thousand
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.43.20
Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 43: Story of Sagara: Gaṅgā redeems the sixty thousand. The waters cover the sixty thousand’s ashes and raise them to heaven, Brahmā names Gaṅgā Bhāgīrathī & Tripathagā and Bhagīratha completes the ancestral rites
In the sequence: Viśvāmitra ends the Gaṅgā story as twilight passes and declares the blessings of hearing it.
1.43.20
dhanyaṃ yaśasyam āyuṣyaṃ svargyaṃ putryam athāpi ca
idam ākhyānam ākhyātaṃ gaṅgāvataraṇaṃ mayā
This story of the descent of Gaṅgā — blessed, glory-bringing, life-prolonging, heaven-bestowing, and granting sons — has been told by me.
Words: dhanyaṃ — blessed, bringing fortune; yaśasyam — conferring glory; āyuṣyaṃ — prolonging life; svargyaṃ — leading to heaven; putryam — granting sons, conferring offspring; athāpi — and moreover; ca — and; idam — this; ākhyānam — story, narrative; ākhyātaṃ — has been told, related; gaṅgāvataraṇaṃ — the descent of Gaṅgā; mayā — by me
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.