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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.52.11

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 52: Story of Viśvāmitra: Śabalā’s feast and the rejected purchase. Śabalā feeds the entire company, Viśvāmitra offers escalating wealth to purchase her and Vasiṣṭha refuses to surrender the source of his ritual sustenance

In the sequence: Vasiṣṭha refuses any price, explaining that she sustains his life, havya (offerings to Devas), kavya (offerings to pitṛs), agnihotra, bali, homa and sacred learning

1.52.11

nāhaṃ śatasahasreṇa nāpi koṭiśatair gavām
rājan dāsyāmi śabalāṃ rāśibhī rajatasya vā

'Not for a hundred thousand, nor even for hundreds of crores of cows, O king, will I give Śabalā, nor for heaps of silver.'

Words: nāhaṃ — not I; śatasahasreṇa — for a hundred thousand; nāpi — nor even; koṭiśatair — for hundreds of crores; gavām — of cows; rājan — O king; dāsyāmi — I shall give; śabalāṃ — Śabalā; rāśibhī — for heaps; rajatasya — of silver; vā — or

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.