← 3.16.5 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 16: Śūrpaṇakhā’s proposal · 3.16.7 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.16.6
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
3.16.6
siṃhoraskaṃ mahābāhuṃ padmapatranibhekṣaṇam
sukumāraṃ mahāsattvaṃ pārthivavyañjanānvitam
(She saw him) lion-chested, mighty-armed, his eyes like lotus-petals, delicate, of great strength, endowed with the marks of a king,
Words: siṃhoraskaṃ — lion-chested; mahābāhuṃ — mighty-armed; padmapatranibhekṣaṇam — with eyes like lotus-petals; sukumāraṃ — delicate, tender; mahāsattvaṃ — of great strength; pārthivavyañjanānvitam — endowed with the marks of a king
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.