← 3.45.24 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 45: Rāvaṇa reveals his identity · 3.45.26 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.45.25

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 45: Rāvaṇa reveals his identity. Sītā recounts her marriage and exile, he offers Queenship in Laṅkā and she rejects him with warnings of destruction

In the sequence: he says her beauty has made him dissatisfied with his own wives and offers to make her his chief Queen in island Laṅkā, served by five thousand attendants

3.45.25

laṅkā nāma samudrasya madhye mama mahāpurī
sāgareṇa parikṣiptā niviṣṭā girimūrdhani

'In the midst of the ocean stands my great city named Laṅkā, girded by the sea and set upon a mountain summit.'

Words: laṅkā — Laṅkā; nāma — by name; samudrasya — of the ocean; madhye — in the midst; mama — my; mahāpurī — great city; sāgareṇa — by the sea; parikṣiptā — surrounded; niviṣṭā — situated, set; girimūrdhani — on a mountain top

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.