← 1.5.1 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 5: Ayodhyā’s layout and defences · 1.5.3 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.5.2

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 5: Ayodhyā’s layout and defences. The narrative introduces Kosala on the Sarayū and its capital, describing Ayodhyā’s roads, defences, markets and abundant provisions

In the sequence: The narrative now turns back to the beginning of Rāma's story, placing it in the Ikṣvāku dynasty, whose ancestors include Sagara and his sixty thousand sons

1.5.2

yeṣāṃ sa sagaro nāma sāgaro yena khānitaḥ
ṣaṣṭiḥ putrasahasrāṇi yaṃ yāntaṃ paryavārayan

Among them was the one named Sagara, by whom the ocean was dug out, whom his sixty thousand sons attended as he marched.

Words: yeṣāṃ — among whom; sa — that (famous one); sagaro — Sagara; nāma — by name; sāgaro — the ocean; yena — by whom; khānitaḥ — was dug out; ṣaṣṭiḥ — sixty; putrasahasrāṇi — thousands of sons; yaṃ — whom; yāntaṃ — going, as he marched; paryavārayan — surrounded, attended, escorted

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.