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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.89.9
Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 89: Rāma invites Sītā into the Mandākinī. He urges her to bathe and regard the mountain as Ayodhyā, the river as Sarayū and its animals as citizens
In the sequence: flowers float downstream and birds rise above the water
2.89.9
kaccin maṇinikāśodāṃ kaccit pulinaśālinīm
kaccit siddhajanākīrṇāṃ paśya mandākinīṃ nadīm
Behold the river Mandākinī — here with waters bright as jewels, there graced with sandbanks, and elsewhere thronged with Siddhas.
Words: kaccin — here, in one place; maṇinikāśodāṃ — with waters resembling jewels; kaccit — there; pulinaśālinīm — graced with sandbanks; kaccit — elsewhere; siddhajanākīrṇāṃ — thronged with Siddha folk; paśya — behold; mandākinīṃ nadīm — the river Mandākinī
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.