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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.72.14

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 72: Vivāha: Taking hands and circling the fire. The four princes take their brides’ hands under Vasiṣṭha’s direction, circle the fire and depart together for the guest quarters as puṣpavṛṣṭi falls, divya-dundubhis sound, apsarases dance and gandharvas sing

In the sequence: Janaka asks whose permission they are waiting for: they should have no hesitation in their own house, for this Kingdom is as their own → his daughters, their kautuka wedding preliminaries fully completed, stand at the altar (vedī), radiant like flames, and he himself is ready there, awaiting them → he urges the King to proceed without delay → Daśaratha brings his sons and the ṛṣis inside. Janaka presents Sītā to Rāma as his partner in dharma and asks him to take her hand

1.72.14

kṛtakautukasarvasvā vedimūlam upāgatāḥ
mama kanyā muniśreṣṭha dīptā vahner ivārciṣaḥ

My daughters, O best of sages, arrayed in the full bridal adornment with the auspicious cords bound on, have come to the foot of the altar, blazing like the flames of fire.

Words: kṛtakautukasarvasvā — having had the whole of the bridal cord-rite and adornment performed; vedimūlam — the foot of the altar; upāgatāḥ — have come, arrived; mama — my; kanyā — daughters; muniśreṣṭha — O best of sages; dīptā — blazing; vahner — of fire; ivārciṣaḥ — like the flames

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.