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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.21.18

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

3.21.18

kharas tu tān maheṣvāsān ghoracarmāyudhadhvajān
niryātety abravīd dṛṣṭvā rathasthaḥ sarvarākṣasān

And Khara, standing on his chariot, seeing all those rākṣasas — great archers with dreadful shields, weapons, and banners — said, “March forth!”

Words: kharas tu — and Khara; tān — those; maheṣvāsān — great archers; ghoracarmāyudhadhvajān — with dreadful shields, weapons, and banners; niryātety — 'march forth!'; abravīd — said; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; rathasthaḥ — standing on the chariot; sarvarākṣasān — all the rākṣasas

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.