← 3.19.19 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 19: Rāma kills the fourteen · 3.19.21 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.19.20
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: Rāma cuts down the spears with fourteen arrows, then takes fourteen more and shoots the attackers
3.19.20
rukmapuṅkhāś ca viśikhāḥ pradīptā hemabhūṣaṇāḥ
antarikṣe maholkānāṃ babhūvus tulyavarcasaḥ
And the arrows, gold-shafted, blazing, adorned with gold, became in the sky equal in brilliance to great meteors.
Words: rukmapuṅkhāś — gold-shafted, gold-feathered; ca — and; viśikhāḥ — arrows; pradīptā — blazing; hemabhūṣaṇāḥ — adorned with gold; antarikṣe — in the sky, mid-air; maholkānāṃ — of great meteors; babhūvus — became; tulyavarcasaḥ — equal in brilliance
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.