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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.20.11

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 20: Śūrpaṇakhā challenges Khara. She reports the fourteen deaths, threatens to die and tells him to fight Rāma or abandon Janasthāna

In the sequence: she again asks Khara to rescue her and avenge the dead

3.20.11

viṣādanakrādhyuṣite paritrāsormimālini
kiṃ māṃ na trāyase magnāṃ vipule śokasāgare

Why do you not rescue me, sunk in a vast ocean of grief, infested with the crocodiles of despair and garlanded with waves of terror?

Words: viṣādanakrādhyuṣite — infested with the crocodiles of despair; paritrāsormimālini — garlanded with waves of terror; kiṃ — why; māṃ — me; na — not; trāyase — do you rescue; magnāṃ — sunk, drowned; vipule — vast, wide; śokasāgare — in the ocean of grief

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.