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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.110.34

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 110: Anasūyā’s gifts and Sītā’s story. Sītā receives clothing, ornaments and unfading cosmetic, then recounts her earth-birth, the bow and marriage

In the sequence: when she reached marriageable age, Janaka worried about finding a suitable husband for a daughter with such an unusual origin → he decided to hold a contest

2.110.34

sadṛśāc cāpakṛṣṭāc ca loke kanyāpitā janāt
pradharṣaṇām avāpnoti śakreṇāpi samo bhuvi

In this world the father of a daughter, though he be the equal of Indra on earth, suffers humiliation from people whether equal or inferior to him.

Words: sadṛśāc — from an equal; cāpakṛṣṭāc — and from an inferior; ca — and; loke — in the world; kanyāpitā — the father of a girl; janāt — from a person; pradharṣaṇām — humiliation, insult; avāpnoti — obtains, suffers; śakreṇāpi — even with Indra; samo — equal; bhuvi — on earth

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.