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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.66.4

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: five thousand strong men haul its eight-wheeled chest into place

1.66.4

nṛpāṃ śatāni pañcāśad vyāyatānāṃ mahātmanām
mañjūṣām aṣṭacakrāṃ tāṃ samūhas te kathaṃ cana

Five thousand tall and mighty men somehow drew that eight-wheeled chest.

Words: nṛpāṃ — of men; śatāni — hundreds; pañcāśad — fifty; vyāyatānāṃ — tall, powerful; mahātmanām — mighty, great-souled; mañjūṣām — the chest, box; aṣṭacakrāṃ — eight-wheeled; tāṃ — that; samūhas — drew, hauled; te — they; kathaṃ cana — somehow, with difficulty

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.