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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.22.12

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 22: Omens on Khara’s march. Blood-coloured rain, darkness and bodily tremors warn of disaster, Khara dismisses them and advances with his leading warriors

In the sequence: predators cry, darkness spreads before twilight, jackals howl, the sun is obscured, and stars appear by day

3.22.12

pravāti mārutaḥ śīghraṃ niṣprabho 'bhūd divākaraḥ
utpetuś ca vinā rātriṃ tārāḥ khadyotasaprabhāḥ

A wind blew swiftly, the sun grew lustreless, and the stars rose up though it was not night, shining faint as fireflies.

Words: pravāti — blows, blew; mārutaḥ — the wind; śīghraṃ — swiftly; niṣprabho — lustreless; 'bhūd — became; divākaraḥ — the sun; utpetuś — rose up; ca — and; vinā — without, apart from; rātriṃ — night; tārāḥ — stars; khadyotasaprabhāḥ — shining like fireflies

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.