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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.62.4

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: later he sees Menakā bathing at Puṣkara, beautiful like lightning in a cloud → overcome by desire, he invites her to live with him

1.62.4

tataḥ kālena mahatā menakā paramāpsarāḥ
puṣkareṣu naraśreṣṭha snātuṃ samupacakrame

Then, after a long time, Menakā, the foremost of apsarases, O best of men, set about bathing in the Puṣkara lakes.

Words: tataḥ — then; kālena mahatā — after a long time; menakā — Menakā; paramāpsarāḥ — the foremost apsaras; puṣkareṣu — in the Puṣkara lakes; naraśreṣṭha — O best of men; snātuṃ — to bathe; samupacakrame — set about, began

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.