← 3.16.3 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 16: Śūrpaṇakhā’s proposal · 3.16.5 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.16.4

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 16: Śūrpaṇakhā’s proposal. Rāvaṇa’s sister asks Rāma to marry her and threatens to eat Sītā & Lakṣmaṇa so they can roam the forest together

In the sequence: the rākṣasī Śūrpaṇakhā, Rāvaṇa's sister, happens to arrive → struck by Rāma's beauty and royal bearing, she becomes attracted to him

3.16.4

tadāsīnasya rāmasya kathāsaṃsaktacetasaḥ
taṃ deśaṃ rākṣasī kā cid ājagāma yadṛcchayā

While Rāma sat thus, his mind absorbed in conversation, a certain rākṣasī came to that place by chance.

Words: tadāsīnasya — of him then seated; rāmasya — of Rāma; kathāsaṃsaktacetasaḥ — whose mind was absorbed in conversation; taṃ — that; deśaṃ — place, region; rākṣasī — a rākṣasī (demoness); kā cid — a certain, some; ājagāma — came; yadṛcchayā — by chance

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.