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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.58.15

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 58: Story of Viśvāmitra: Triśaṅku’s sacrifice and the priests’ refusal. Viśvāmitra promises Triśaṅku bodily ascent and summons priests, then curses Vasiṣṭha’s sons & Mahodaya for rejecting the sacrifice

In the sequence: the disciples report that Vasiṣṭha's sons and Mahodaya refuse: they scorn a sacrifice officiated by a kṣatriya for a caṇḍāla and question whether Suras and ṛṣis could accept its havis

1.58.15

brāhmaṇā vā mahātmāno bhuktvā caṇḍālabhojanam
kathaṃ svargaṃ gamiṣyanti viśvāmitreṇa pālitāḥ

'Or how would the great-souled brahmins, having eaten a caṇḍāla's food, go to heaven, merely protected by Viśvāmitra?'

Words: brāhmaṇā — the brahmins; vā — or; mahātmāno — the great-souled; bhuktvā — having eaten; caṇḍālabhojanam — a caṇḍāla's food; kathaṃ — how; svargaṃ — to heaven; gamiṣyanti — will (they) go; viśvāmitreṇa — by Viśvāmitra; pālitāḥ — protected

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.