← 1.43.7 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 43: Story of Sagara: Gaṅgā redeems the sixty thousand · 1.43.9 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.43.8

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: Brahmā asks the King to complete the pitṛtarpaṇa (water-offerings to the pitṛs) and praises him for accomplishing what Sagara, Aṃśumat, and Dilīpa could not

1.43.8

pūrvakeṇa hi te rājaṃs tenātiyaśasā tadā
dharmiṇāṃ pravareṇātha naiṣa prāpto manorathaḥ

For by that forefather of yours then, O king, of surpassing renown, foremost of the righteous — even by him this wish was not attained;

Words: pūrvakeṇa — by the forefather, ancestor; hi — for, indeed; te — your; rājaṃs — O king; tenātiyaśasā — by that one of surpassing renown; tadā — then; dharmiṇāṃ — of the righteous; pravareṇātha — and by the foremost; naiṣa — this ... not; prāpto — attained; manorathaḥ — the wish, heart's desire

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.