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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.20.28

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 20: Lakṣmaṇa opposes fate with effort. He offers to overcome every obstacle by force, Rāma wipes away his tears but remains bound to the promise

In the sequence: he points to his weapons and promises to defeat anyone who intervenes

2.20.28

khaḍganiṣpeṣaniṣpiṣṭair gahanā duścarā ca me
hastyaśvanarahastoruśirobhir bhavitā mahī

Through me the earth will become dense and hard to cross with the trunks, thighs, and heads of elephants, horses, and men, crushed by the smiting of my sword.

Words: khaḍganiṣpeṣaniṣpiṣṭair — crushed by the pounding of the sword; gahanā — dense, impassable; duścarā — hard to traverse; ca — and; me — by me; hastyaśvanarahastoruśirobhir — with the hands/trunks, thighs, and heads of elephants, horses, and men; bhavitā — will become; mahī — the earth

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.