← 1.54.21 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 54: Story of Viśvāmitra: Defeat, Śiva’s weapons and retaliation · 1.54.23 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.54.22

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 54: Story of Viśvāmitra: Defeat, Śiva’s weapons and retaliation. His army and sons are destroyed, Viśvāmitra wins Śiva’s weapons through austerity and returns to burn Vasiṣṭha’s hermitage

In the sequence: he returns and burns the hermitage with his missiles → munis, pupils, animals, and birds flee, leaving it deserted

1.54.22

udīryamāṇam astraṃ tad viśvāmitrasya dhīmataḥ
dṛṣṭvā vipradrutā bhītā munayaḥ śataśo diśaḥ

Seeing that missile of the wise Viśvāmitra being hurled, the sages fled in terror by the hundreds in every direction.

Words: udīryamāṇam — being hurled, discharged; astraṃ — the missile; tad — that; viśvāmitrasya — of Viśvāmitra; dhīmataḥ — the wise; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; vipradrutā — fled away; bhītā — terrified; munayaḥ — the sages; śataśo — by the hundreds; diśaḥ — in the directions

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.