← 3.20.16 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 20: Śūrpaṇakhā challenges Khara · 3.20.18 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.20.17

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 tells him to abandon Janasthāna if he is too weak to defend it, predicting that the brothers will destroy him otherwise.

3.20.17

apayāhi janasthānāt tvaritaḥ sahabāndhavaḥ
niḥsattvasyālpavīryasya vāsas te kīdṛśas tv iha

Depart quickly from Janasthāna together with your kinsmen; for one so feeble and of little valour, what sort of dwelling is there for you here?

Words: apayāhi — depart, go away; janasthānāt — from Janasthāna; tvaritaḥ — quickly, hastily; sahabāndhavaḥ — together with (your) kinsmen; niḥsattvasyālpavīryasya — of (you) feeble and of little valour; vāsas — dwelling, abode; te — your; kīdṛśas — of what sort; tv — indeed; iha — here

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.