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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.9.22

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 9: Story of Ṛṣyaśṛṅga: Courtesans, rain and marriage. Courtesans lure Ṛṣyaśṛṅga from his father’s forest hermitage, rain ends Aṅga’s drought and Romapāda gives him Śāntā in marriage

In the sequence: they embrace Ṛṣyaśṛṅga and give him sweets and delicacies, which he mistakes for unusual fruits → claiming that their observances require them to leave, they hurry away. Distressed by their absence, Ṛṣyaśṛṅga returns to the meeting place the next day

1.9.22

āpṛcchya ca tadā vipraṃ vratacaryāṃ nivedya ca
gacchanti smāpadeśāt tā bhītās tasya pituḥ striyaḥ

Then, taking their leave of the brahmin and pleading the excuse of their vow-observances, those women departed on a pretext, in fear of his father.

Words: āpṛcchya — having taken leave; ca — and; tadā — then; vipraṃ — of the brahmin; vratacaryāṃ — their vow-observance; nivedya — having announced, pleaded; ca — and; gacchanti — they go, departed; smāpadeśāt — then, on a pretext; tā — those; bhītās — afraid; tasya — his; pituḥ — of his father; striyaḥ — the women

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.