← 1.9.2 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 9: Story of Ṛṣyaśṛṅga: Courtesans, rain and marriage · 1.9.4 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.9.3
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: Sumantra now tells the episode in detail: Romapāda's advisers explain that Ṛṣyaśṛṅga knows nothing of women or sensual pleasures → they propose sending richly adorned courtesans to attract him through experiences unfamiliar to him → the King approves, and the women go into the forest near his hermitage
1.9.3
ṛṣyaśṛṅgo vanacaras tapaḥsvādhyāyane rataḥ
anabhijñaḥ sa nārīṇāṃ viṣayāṇāṃ sukhasya ca
Ṛṣyaśṛṅga is a forest-dweller, devoted to austerity and Vedic study; he is a stranger to women, to the objects of sense, and to pleasure.
Words: ṛṣyaśṛṅgo — Ṛṣyaśṛṅga; vanacaras — a forest-dweller; tapaḥsvādhyāyane — in austerity and Vedic study; rataḥ — devoted to; anabhijñaḥ — unacquainted, a stranger to; sa — he; nārīṇāṃ — of women; viṣayāṇāṃ — of the objects of sense; sukhasya — of pleasure; ca — and
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.