← 3.20.14 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 20: Śūrpaṇakhā challenges Khara · 3.20.16 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.20.15

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: turning from appeal to insult, she questions whether he can face Rāma at all and calls his reputation for valor empty

3.20.15

buddhyāham anupaśyāmi na tvaṃ rāmasya saṃyuge
sthātuṃ pratimukhe śaktaḥ sacāpasya mahāraṇe

By my judgement I foresee that you are not able to stand face to face with Rāma, bow in hand, in the great battle.

Words: buddhyāham — by (my) intellect I; anupaśyāmi — I perceive, foresee; na — not; tvaṃ — you; rāmasya — of/against Rāma; saṃyuge — in combat; sthātuṃ — to stand; pratimukhe — face to face, in front; śaktaḥ — able; sacāpasya — of (Rāma) with bow in hand; mahāraṇe — in the great battle

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.