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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.18.6

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

1.18.6

avadhūte tathā bhūte tasmin niyamaniścaye
kṛtaśramo nirutsāhas tasmād deśād apākrame

When my settled observance has thus been dashed to pieces, my labour wasted and my zeal gone, I withdraw from that region.

Words: avadhūte — dashed down, ruined (loc. abs.); tathā — thus; bhūte — having become (loc. abs.); tasmin — that; niyamaniścaye — settled observance, firm vow; kṛtaśramo — having (vainly) laboured; nirutsāhas — dispirited, zeal gone; tasmād — from that; deśād — from the region; apākrame — I withdraw, depart

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.