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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.20.12
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
3.20.12
ete ca nihatā bhūmau rāmeṇa niśitaiḥ śaraiḥ
ye ca me padavīṃ prāptā rākṣasāḥ piśitāśanāḥ
And these flesh-eating rākṣasas who had come along my track lie slain on the ground by Rāma with his sharp arrows.
Words: ete — these; ca — and; nihatā — slain; bhūmau — on the ground; rāmeṇa — by Rāma; niśitaiḥ — sharp, whetted; śaraiḥ — with arrows; ye — who; ca — and; me — my; padavīṃ — the track, path; prāptā — had come to, reached; rākṣasāḥ — rākṣasas; piśitāśanāḥ — flesh-eating
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.