← 3.20.4 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 20: Śūrpaṇakhā challenges Khara · 3.20.6 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.20.5
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: Khara asks why she has returned weeping when he sent loyal, powerful fighters to help her
3.20.5
anāthavad vilapasi kiṃ nu nāthe mayi sthite
uttiṣṭhottiṣṭha mā bhaiṣīr vaiklavyaṃ tyajyatām iha
Why do you lament like one without a protector, when I, your protector, stand here? Rise up, rise up, do not fear; let this faint-heartedness be cast off.”
Words: anāthavad — like one without a protector; vilapasi — you lament; kiṃ nu — why then; nāthe mayi sthite — when I, (your) lord, stand (here); uttiṣṭhottiṣṭha — rise up, rise up; mā bhaiṣīr — do not fear; vaiklavyaṃ — faint-heartedness, agitation; tyajyatām — let it be abandoned; iha — here, now
Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.