← 3.23.1 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 23: Rāma prepares to fight alone · 3.23.3 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.23.2

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 sees the portents too and interprets them as foretelling the rākṣasas' destruction

3.23.2

tān utpātān mahāghorān utthitān romaharṣaṇān
prajānām ahitān dṛṣṭvā vākyaṃ lakṣmaṇam abravīt

Seeing those most dreadful, hair-raising portents that had arisen, boding ill to creatures, he spoke these words to Lakṣmaṇa:

Words: tān — those; utpātān — portents; mahāghorān — most dreadful; utthitān — arisen; romaharṣaṇān — hair-raising; prajānām — to creatures, beings; ahitān — boding ill, harmful; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; vākyaṃ — words; lakṣmaṇam — to Lakṣmaṇa; abravīt — spoke

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.