← 1.74.1 · Bāla Kāṇḍa 74: Paraśurāma: The two divine bows and the challenge · 1.74.3 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.74.2

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: Paraśurāma says he has heard of Rāma's extraordinary breaking of the bow and has brought another → he challenges Rāma to draw it with an arrow, after which he will offer single combat

1.74.2

tad adbhutam acintyaṃ ca bhedanaṃ dhanuṣas tvayā
tac chrutvāham anuprāpto dhanur gṛhyāparaṃ śubham

That breaking of the bow by you was wondrous and inconceivable; hearing of it I have come, taking up another fine bow.

Words: tad — that; adbhutam — wondrous; acintyaṃ — inconceivable; ca — and; bhedanaṃ — breaking; dhanuṣas — of the bow; tvayā — by you; tac — that; chrutvāham — having heard, I; anuprāpto — have come, arrived; dhanur — a bow; gṛhyāparaṃ — taking up another; śubham — fine, good

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.