← 3.20.17 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 20: Śūrpaṇakhā challenges Khara
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.20.18
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.
3.20.18
rāmatejo'bhibhūto hi tvaṃ kṣipraṃ vinaśiṣyasi
sa hi tejaḥsamāyukto rāmo daśarathātmajaḥ
bhrātā cāsya mahāvīryo yena cāsmi virūpitā
For, overwhelmed by Rāma's splendour, you will swiftly perish; for that Rāma, son of Daśaratha, is endowed with great might, as is his brother of great valour, by whom I was disfigured.”
Words: rāmatejo'bhibhūto — overwhelmed by Rāma's splendour; hi — for; tvaṃ — you; kṣipraṃ — swiftly; vinaśiṣyasi — will perish; sa hi — for that (one); tejaḥsamāyukto — endowed with splendour, might; rāmo — Rāma; daśarathātmajaḥ — son of Daśaratha; bhrātā — brother; cāsya — and his; mahāvīryo — of great valour; yena — by whom; cāsmi — and I was; virūpitā — disfigured
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.