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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.45.16

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 45: Story of Indra & Diti: Service, broken observance and division. Diti seeks a son to kill Indra, he serves her during her observance and exploits her sleeping posture to enter her body and divide the fetus into seven

In the sequence: when only ten years remain, she tells him he will soon see his brother → pleased by his service, she promises to reconcile the child to him so that they can share dominion without fear. At noon Diti falls asleep with her feet where her head should be and her hair toward her feet

1.45.16

dṛṣṭvā tām aśuciṃ śakraḥ pādataḥ kṛtamūrdhajām
śiraḥsthāne kṛtau pādau jahāsa ca mumoda ca

Seeing her impure, with her hair toward her feet and her feet set in the place of the head, Śakra both laughed and rejoiced.

Words: dṛṣṭvā — having seen; tām — her; aśuciṃ — impure; śakraḥ — Śakra (Indra); pādataḥ — at the feet; kṛtamūrdhajām — with her hair (turned) toward; śiraḥsthāne — in the place of the head; kṛtau — placed (dual); pādau — the two feet; jahāsa — laughed; ca — and; mumoda — rejoiced; ca — and

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.