← 1.62.25 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 62: Story of Viśvāmitra: Menakā and the unfinished mastery of desire

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.62.26

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 62: Story of Viśvāmitra: Menakā and the unfinished mastery of desire. Menakā interrupts his austerity for ten years, renewed effort wins the rank of maharṣi, but Brahmā withholds brahmarṣi until his senses are mastered

In the sequence: after a thousand years of this ordeal, the Suras grow deeply alarmed → Indra turns to Rambhā to interrupt him.

1.62.26

uvācātmahitaṃ vākyam ahitaṃ kauśikasya ca

...spoke a word beneficial to himself but harmful to the son of Kuśika (Viśvāmitra).

Words: uvācātmahitaṃ — spoke (a word) beneficial to himself; vākyam — a word; ahitaṃ — harmful, unfavorable; kauśikasya ca — and to the son of Kuśika (Kauśika)

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.