Chapter 23 — Uttara Kanda, Sarga 23

Valmiki Ramayana — Uttara Kanda

Verse 23.16

ददर्श रावणस्तत्र गोवृषेन्द्रवरारणिम्। यस्माच्चन्द्रः प्रभवति शीतरश्मिनिशाकरः॥ यं समाश्रित्य जीवन्ति फेनपाः परमर्षयः। अमृतं यत्र चोत्पन्नं स्वधा च स्वधभोजिनाम्॥ यां ब्रुवन्ति नरा लोके सुरभिं नाम नामतः।

dadarśa rāvaṇastatra govṛṣendravarāraṇim| yasmāccandraḥ prabhavati śītaraśminiśākaraḥ|| yaṃ samāśritya jīvanti phenapāḥ paramarṣayaḥ| amṛtaṃ yatra cotpannaṃ svadhā ca svadhabhojinām|| yāṃ bruvanti narā loke surabhiṃ nāma nāmataḥ|

English Meaning

There Ravana saw the mother of kine and the foremost of bulls; from whom spring that maker of night the mild-beaming-moon; taking refuge under whom subsist the prime saints and those living on froth, the froth' (of milk): and wherefrom sprang ambrosia as well as the Svadha of Svădhă-subsisting ones,' even her that go with human beings under the name of Surabhi. 1. A typical instance of the lengths which the selfdenial of the Hindu sages went is furnished by the case of a certain class of ascetics, who, abstaining from every other kind of food, lived solely on the froth of milk, falling off from the udders after the calf had drunk it. This froth-drinking, in preference to drinking the milk itself was dictated by a motive of charity viz., not to deprive the calf of her legitimate fare. 2. The ancestral manes.

M.N. Dutt (1891–94, public domain)