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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.66.15

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 66: Rāma breaks Śiva’s bow: Janaka confirms the marriage. Rāma lifts, strings and breaks the bow, Janaka declares his marriage condition fulfilled and sends envoys to seek Daśaratha’s consent

In the sequence: both King and muni consent → he takes it easily by the middle and strings it almost playfully before the watching thousands

1.66.15

bāḍham ity eva taṃ rājā muniś ca samabhāṣata
līlayā sa dhanur madhye jagrāha vacanān muneḥ

“Very well,” said both the king and the sage to him; and at the sage's word he grasped the bow in the middle with ease.

Words: bāḍham — “very well, certainly”; ity eva — thus indeed; taṃ — to him; rājā — the king; muniś ca — and the sage; samabhāṣata — said, addressed; līlayā — with ease, in play; sa — he; dhanur — the bow; madhye — in the middle; jagrāha — grasped; vacanān — at the word; muneḥ — of the sage

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.