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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.19.8

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

3.19.8

phalamūlāśanau dāntau tāpasau dharmacāriṇau
vasantau daṇḍakāraṇye kimartham upahiṃsatha

Living on fruits and roots, self-controlled, ascetics practising dharma, dwelling in the Daṇḍaka wilderness — why do you seek to harm us?

Words: phalamūlāśanau — eating fruits and roots; dāntau — self-controlled (the two); tāpasau — two ascetics; dharmacāriṇau — practising dharma; vasantau — dwelling (the two); daṇḍakāraṇye — in the Daṇḍaka wilderness; kimartham — why, for what purpose; upahiṃsatha — do you (pl.) harm, injure

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.