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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.52.20

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: Viśvāmitra raises the offer to fourteen thousand richly equipped elephants, eight hundred golden chariots, eleven thousand fine horses, and a crore of cows

1.52.20

nānāvarṇavibhaktānāṃ vayaḥsthānāṃ tathaiva ca
dadāmy ekāṃ gavāṃ koṭiṃ śabalā dīyatāṃ mama

'And of cows distinguished by various colours and in the prime of age, I will give one crore; let Śabalā be given to me.'

Words: nānāvarṇavibhaktānāṃ — distinguished by various colours; vayaḥsthānāṃ — in the prime of age; tathaiva ca — and likewise too; dadāmy — I give; ekāṃ — one; gavāṃ — of cows; koṭiṃ — a crore (ten million); śabalā — Śabalā; dīyatāṃ — let (her) be given; mama — to me

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.