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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.70.17

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 70: Śabarī’s welcome and ascent. She shows the seven seas gathered for her teachers’ bath, receives Rāma’s permission and enters fire to rejoin them

In the sequence: Śabarī shows them Mataṅga's Wood, the sacred ford, and the places where her teachers worshipped

3.70.17

paśya meghaghanaprakhyaṃ mṛgapakṣisamākulam
mataṅgavanam ity eva viśrutaṃ raghunandana

'Behold this forest, dark as a mass of clouds, teeming with beasts and birds, renowned by the very name of Mataṅga's Wood, O joy of the Raghus.

Words: paśya — behold; meghaghanaprakhyaṃ — resembling a mass of clouds; mṛgapakṣisamākulam — teeming with beasts and birds; mataṅgavanam — Mataṅga's wood; ity — thus; eva — indeed; viśrutaṃ — renowned, famed; raghunandana — O joy of the Raghus

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.