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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.55.19
Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 55: Story of Viśvāmitra: Vasiṣṭha’s staff absorbs the weapons. Vasiṣṭha’s staff absorbs every missile, including the Brahmāstra, Viśvāmitra recognizes the superiority of spiritual power and resolves to attain brāhmaṇa status
In the sequence: flames stream from his pores, and his staff blazes with dreadful force
1.55.19
prājvalad brahmadaṇḍaś ca vasiṣṭhasya karodyataḥ
vidhūma iva kālāgnir yamadaṇḍa ivāparaḥ
And the brahman-staff, raised in Vasiṣṭha's hand, blazed like a smokeless doomsday fire, like a second staff of Yama.
Words: prājvalad — blazed; brahmadaṇḍaś ca — and the brahman-staff; vasiṣṭhasya — of Vasiṣṭha; karodyataḥ — raised in the hand; vidhūma — smokeless; iva — like; kālāgnir — the fire of Time (doomsday fire); yamadaṇḍa — the staff of Yama; ivāparaḥ — like a second
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.