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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.18.5
Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 18: Viśvāmitra’s request: Rāma’s protection of the sacrifice. Viśvāmitra asks for Rāma to protect his sacrifice from Mārīca & Subāhu, promising the prince’s safety and advancement
In the sequence: he explains that Mārīca and Subāhu repeatedly ruin his observance at its completion by raining flesh and blood on the altar → the observance forbids him from answering with a curse
1.18.5
vrate me bahuśaś cīrṇe samāptyāṃ rākṣasāv imau
mārīcaś ca subāhuś ca vīryavantau suśikṣitau
tau māṃsarudhiraugheṇa vediṃ tām abhyavarṣatām
When my observance has been performed many times, at its completion these two rākṣasas — Mārīca and Subāhu, mighty and well-trained — rain down upon that altar a flood of flesh and blood.
Words: vrate — the observance (loc. abs.); me — my; bahuśaś — many times; cīrṇe — performed (loc. abs.); samāptyāṃ — at the completion; rākṣasāv — the two rākṣasas; imau — these two; mārīcaś — Mārīca; ca — and; subāhuś — Subāhu; ca — and; vīryavantau — mighty; suśikṣitau — well-trained; tau — the two; māṃsarudhiraugheṇa — with a flood of flesh and blood; vediṃ — the altar; tām — that; abhyavarṣatām — rained down upon (the two)
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.