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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.110.47
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: Rāma later arrived with Viśvāmitra and Lakṣmaṇa → he bent and strung the bow, breaking it with a great crash → Janaka offered Sītā to him, but Rāma would not marry without his father's approval → Daśaratha was summoned, Sītā married Rāma, and Ūrmilā married Lakṣmaṇa → Sītā ends by affirming the marriage she has remained devoted to.
2.110.47
tena pūrayatā vegān madhye bhagnaṃ dvidhā dhanuḥ
tasya śabdo 'bhavad bhīmaḥ patitasyāśaner iva
As he drew it forcefully, the bow snapped in two in the middle; and its sound was terrible, like that of a falling thunderbolt.
Words: tena — by him; pūrayatā — drawing (it) to the full; vegān — forcibly, with force; madhye — in the middle; bhagnaṃ — broken; dvidhā — in two; dhanuḥ — the bow; tasya — its; śabdo — sound; 'bhavad — was, arose; bhīmaḥ — terrible; patitasyāśaner — of a falling thunderbolt; iva — like
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.