← 1.25.5 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 25: Rāma kills Tāṭakā · 1.25.7 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.25.6

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: he grips the middle of his bow firmly in his fist and makes the bowstring twang fiercely, filling every direction with sound → the forest creatures are terrified → bewildered and enraged by the sound, Tāṭakā rushes toward its source

1.25.6

evam uktvā dhanurmadhye baddhvā muṣṭim ariṃdamaḥ
jyāśabdam akarot tīvraṃ diśaḥ śabdena pūrayan

Having spoken thus, the tamer of foes, gripping his fist at the middle of the bow, made a fierce twang of the bowstring, filling the quarters with the sound.

Words: evam — thus; uktvā — having spoken; dhanurmadhye — at the middle of the bow; baddhvā — having fixed, gripped; muṣṭim — the fist, grip; ariṃdamaḥ — the tamer of foes; jyāśabdam — the twang of the bowstring; akarot — made; tīvraṃ — fierce, sharp; diśaḥ — the quarters, directions; śabdena — with the sound; pūrayan — filling

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.