← 3.23.15 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 23: Rāma prepares to fight alone · 3.23.17 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.23.16
Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 23: Rāma prepares to fight alone. He reads the omens as signs of victory, sends Sītā & Lakṣmaṇa into a mountain cave and faces the fourteen thousand
In the sequence: Rāma puts on his armor, takes his bow and arrows, and sounds the bowstring
3.23.16
sa cāpam udyamya mahac charān ādāya vīryavān
babhūvāvasthitas tatra jyāsvanaiḥ pūrayan diśaḥ
Raising his great bow and taking his arrows, the valiant one stood there, filling the quarters with the twang of his bowstring.
Words: sa — he; cāpam — bow; udyamya — having raised; mahac — great; charān — arrows; ādāya — having taken; vīryavān — the valiant one; babhūvāvasthitas — stood, remained; tatra — there; jyāsvanaiḥ — with the twangs of the bowstring; pūrayan — filling; diśaḥ — the quarters
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.