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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.18.10

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 18: Resistance or obedience. Lakṣmaṇa offers force and Kausalyā asks Rāma to stay, Rāma cites ancestral precedents and upholds his father’s word

In the sequence: he promises to defeat any opposition, including Bharata's supporters, and says that wherever Rāma goes, he will go first

2.18.10

nirmanuṣyām imāṃ sarvām ayodhyāṃ manujarṣabha
kariṣyāmi śarais tīkṣṇair yadi sthāsyati vipriye

This whole city of Ayodhyā, O bull among men, I shall make empty of men with my sharp arrows, if it takes its stand in hostility.

Words: nirmanuṣyām — empty of men; imāṃ — this; sarvām — whole, entire; ayodhyāṃ — Ayodhyā; manujarṣabha — O bull among men; kariṣyāmi — I shall make; śarais — with arrows; tīkṣṇair — sharp; yadi — if; sthāsyati — it will stand; vipriye — in hostility, opposition

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.