← 1.45.3 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 45: Story of Indra & Diti: Service, broken observance and division · 1.45.5 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.45.4
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: he agrees on the condition that she remain pure for a full thousand years → he touches her and departs for his own austerities
1.45.4
tasyās tadvacanaṃ śrutvā mārīcaḥ kāśyapas tadā
pratyuvāca mahātejā ditiṃ paramaduḥkhitām
Hearing that speech of hers, Mārīca Kāśyapa, of great splendour, then replied to the deeply grieved Diti:
Words: tasyās — of her; tadvacanaṃ — that speech; śrutvā — having heard; mārīcaḥ — Mārīca; kāśyapas — Kāśyapa; tadā — then; pratyuvāca — replied, answered; mahātejā — of great splendour; ditiṃ — to Diti; paramaduḥkhitām — deeply grieved
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.