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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.19.10

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 19: Rāma kills the fourteen. He offers withdrawal, cuts down their fourteen spears with one volley and kills them with fourteen further arrows

In the sequence: he strings his bow, identifies the travelers, and asks why the rākṣasas wish to harm them → he declares his commitment to stop attacks on the munis but gives these attackers the chance to withdraw

3.19.10

tiṣṭhataivātra saṃtuṣṭā nopasarpitum arhatha
yadi prāṇair ihārtho vo nivartadhvaṃ niśācarāḥ

Stay right there, content; you should not draw near. If you have any care for your lives, turn back, O night-roamers!

Words: tiṣṭhataivātra — just stay there; saṃtuṣṭā — content; nopasarpitum — not to approach; arhatha — you ought; yadi — if; prāṇair — in (your) lives; ihārtho — (is) any care here; vo — for you, your; nivartadhvaṃ — turn back; niśācarāḥ — O night-roamers

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.