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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.22.20

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: laughing at the portents, he boasts that he could defeat Death or Indra and will not return without killing the brothers

3.22.20

tārā api śarais tīkṣṇaiḥ pātayeyaṃ nabhastalāt
mṛtyuṃ maraṇadharmeṇa saṃkruddho yojayāmy aham

Even the stars I could bring down from the vault of heaven with my sharp arrows; enraged, I would subject Death itself to the law of dying.

Words: tārā — the stars; api — even; śarais — with arrows; tīkṣṇaiḥ — sharp; pātayeyaṃ — I could bring down; nabhastalāt — from the vault of heaven; mṛtyuṃ — Death; maraṇadharmeṇa — with the law of dying; saṃkruddho — enraged; yojayāmy — I would yoke, subject; aham — I

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.