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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.58.19

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: enraged, Viśvāmitra curses Vasiṣṭha's sons to destruction and seven hundred births as deformed, pitiless corpse-eaters called Muṣṭikas, living on dogs' flesh

1.58.19

adya te kālapāśena nītā vaivasvatakṣayam
saptajātiśatāny eva mṛtapāḥ santu sarvaśaḥ

'Today, dragged by the noose of Kāla to the abode of Vaivasvata (Yama), let them, one and all, become corpse-eaters for a full seven hundred births.'

Words: adya — today; te — they; kālapāśena — by the noose of Kāla (Time/Death); nītā — led, dragged; vaivasvatakṣayam — to the abode of Vaivasvata (Yama); saptajātiśatāny — seven hundred births; eva — full, indeed; mṛtapāḥ — corpse-eaters, feeders on the dead; santu — let (them) be; sarvaśaḥ — one and all, in every way

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.