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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.9.5

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

1.9.5

gaṇikās tatra gacchantu rūpavatyaḥ svalaṃkṛtāḥ
pralobhya vividhopāyair āneṣyantīha satkṛtāḥ

Let courtesans, beautiful and richly adorned, go there; having enticed him by various devices, well rewarded, they will bring him here.

Words: gaṇikās — courtesans; tatra — there; gacchantu — let them go; rūpavatyaḥ — beautiful; svalaṃkṛtāḥ — richly adorned; pralobhya — having enticed, allured; vividhopāyair — by various devices; āneṣyantīha — they will bring here; satkṛtāḥ — well rewarded, honoured

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.