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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.25.10

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 25: Rāma kills Tāṭakā. Rāma’s bowstring draws her attack, he kills her with an arrow to the breast and the Devas ask Viśvāmitra to reward him with divine weapons

In the sequence: seeing the rākṣasī’s monstrous body, Rāma tells Lakṣmaṇa that he still intends to disable her rather than kill a woman: he proposes cutting her nose and ears and destroying her power to move and attack

1.25.10

paśya lakṣmaṇa yakṣiṇyā bhairavaṃ dāruṇaṃ vapuḥ
bhidyeran darśanād asyā bhīrūṇāṃ hṛdayāni ca

“Behold, Lakṣmaṇa, the fearful, dreadful body of the yakṣī; the hearts of the timid would burst at the very sight of her.

Words: paśya — behold; lakṣmaṇa — O Lakṣmaṇa; yakṣiṇyā — of the yakṣī; bhairavaṃ — fearful; dāruṇaṃ — dreadful; vapuḥ — body, form; bhidyeran — would burst, split; darśanād — at the sight; asyā — of her; bhīrūṇāṃ — of the timid; hṛdayāni — the hearts; ca — and, even

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.