← 1.45.18 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 45: Story of Indra & Diti: Service, broken observance and division · 1.45.20 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.45.19

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: its cries wake Diti → saying “Do not weep,” Indra continues cutting

1.45.19

mā rudo mā rudaś ceti garbhaṃ śakro 'bhyabhāṣata
bibheda ca mahātejā rudantam api vāsavaḥ

‘Weep not, weep not!’ — thus Śakra spoke to the fetus; and Vāsava (Indra) of great splendour split it even as it wept.

Words: mā — do not; rudo — weep; mā — do not; rudaś — weep; ceti — 'thus' (and thus); garbhaṃ — to the fetus; śakro — Śakra; 'bhyabhāṣata — spoke, said; bibheda — split, cleft; ca — and; mahātejā — the one of great splendour; rudantam — weeping, as it wept; api — even; vāsavaḥ — Vāsava (Indra)

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.