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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.85.42

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 85: Bharadvāja’s divine feast. Invoked devatās provide the army with food, drink and comforts, Bharata honours Rāma’s throne and sits as a minister

In the sequence: women sent by Brahmā and Kubera arrive, along with apsarases from Nandana; gandharvas including Nārada and Tumburu sing, and apsarases dance before Bharata

2.85.42

yābhir gṛhītaḥ puruṣaḥ sonmāda iva lakṣyate
āgur viṃśatisāhasrā nandanād apsarogaṇāḥ

Twenty thousand throngs of apsarases, by whom a man once seized appears as though maddened, came from the Nandana grove.

Words: yābhir — by whom; gṛhītaḥ — seized; puruṣaḥ — a man; sonmāda iva — as if maddened; lakṣyate — appears; āgur — came; viṃśatisāhasrā — twenty thousand; nandanād — from Nandana; apsarogaṇāḥ — throngs of apsarases

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.