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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.110.39

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: in this account, Varuṇa had given Janaka a mighty bow and two inexhaustible quivers at a sacrifice → Janaka set the lifting and stringing of the bow as the condition for marrying her → the assembled Kings could not lift it and withdrew

2.110.39

asaṃcālyaṃ manuṣyaiś ca yatnenāpi ca gauravāt
tan na śaktā namayituṃ svapneṣv api narādhipāḥ

Unmovable by men even with effort, on account of its great weight — that bow the kings were not able to bend even in their dreams.

Words: asaṃcālyaṃ — not to be moved; manuṣyaiś — by men; ca — and; yatnenāpi — even with effort; ca — and; gauravāt — because of its weight; tan — that; na — not; śaktā — able; namayituṃ — to bend; svapneṣv — in dreams; api — even; narādhipāḥ — the kings

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.