← 3.21.13 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 21: Khara’s army mobilizes · 3.21.15 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.21.14

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 21: Khara’s army mobilizes. Dūṣaṇa assembles fourteen thousand rākṣasas, Khara mounts his chariot and the armed force marches from Janasthāna

In the sequence: Dūṣaṇa brings the gold-decorated chariot with its dappled horses → Khara mounts, the troops gather around him and Dūṣaṇa, and he gives the order to march

3.21.14

taṃ meruśikharākāraṃ taptakāñcanabhūṣaṇam
hemacakram asaṃbādhaṃ vaidūryamaya kūbaram

That chariot, shaped like the peak of Meru, adorned with refined gold, with golden wheels, roomy, its pole made of beryl,

Words: taṃ — that; meruśikharākāraṃ — shaped like Meru's peak; taptakāñcanabhūṣaṇam — adorned with refined gold; hemacakram — with golden wheels; asaṃbādhaṃ — roomy, unobstructed; vaidūryamaya — made of beryl; kūbaram — the pole (of the chariot)

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.