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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.74.16

Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 74: Paraśurāma: The two divine bows and the challenge. Paraśurāma ignores Daśaratha’s plea, recounts the rival divine bows and his vengeance, and challenges Rāma to string Viṣṇu’s bow

In the sequence: in an earlier contest, Brahmā set the two Devas against each other to test their strength → Viṣṇu’s “huṃ” sound rendered Śiva motionless and slackened his bow → the Devas restored peace and judged Viṣṇu the stronger

1.74.16

virodhe ca mahad yuddham abhavad romaharṣaṇam
śitikaṇṭhasya viṣṇoś ca parasparajayaiṣiṇoḥ

And in that enmity there took place a great, hair-raising battle between the blue-throated one and Viṣṇu, each seeking to conquer the other.

Words: virodhe — in the enmity; ca — and; mahad — great; yuddham — battle; abhavad — took place; romaharṣaṇam — hair-raising; śitikaṇṭhasya — of the blue-throated one; viṣṇoś — of Viṣṇu; ca — and; parasparajayaiṣiṇoḥ — of the two each seeking to conquer the other

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.