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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.19.5

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 19: Daśaratha’s resistance: The army offered in Rāma’s place. Daśaratha resists sending the young Rāma, offers himself and his army instead and renews his refusal on hearing of Rāvaṇa’s power

In the sequence: Recovering, Daśaratha protests that Rāma is not yet sixteen and unready to face rākṣasas → he offers to go himself with a full army division and protect the observance

1.19.5

aham eva dhanuṣpāṇir goptā samaramūrdhani
yāvat prāṇān dhariṣyāmi tāvad yotsye niśācaraiḥ

I myself, bow in hand, will be the protector at the head of the battle; as long as I hold my breath of life, so long will I fight with the night-rovers.

Words: aham — I; eva — myself, indeed; dhanuṣpāṇir — bow in hand; goptā — the protector; samaramūrdhani — at the head of battle; yāvat — as long as; prāṇān — the breaths of life; dhariṣyāmi — I shall hold, sustain; tāvad — so long; yotsye — I shall fight; niśācaraiḥ — with the night-rovers

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.