← 3.25.5 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 25: Dūṣaṇa’s death · 3.25.7 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.25.6
Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 25: Dūṣaṇa’s death. Rāma severs his arms, kills three commanders and destroys the troops, leaving Khara & Triśiras as the principal opponents
In the sequence: Dūṣaṇa takes a massive iron club, banded with gold and studded with spikes, and charges
3.25.6
vajrāśanisamasparśaṃ paragopuradāraṇam
taṃ mahoragasaṃkāśaṃ pragṛhya parighaṃ raṇe
dūṣaṇo 'bhyapatad rāmaṃ krūrakarmā niśācaraḥ
of touch like thunderbolt and lightning, a shatterer of the enemy's gate-towers — seizing in the battle that iron club, like a great serpent, Dūṣaṇa, the night-roamer of cruel deeds, fell upon Rāma.
Words: vajrāśanisamasparśaṃ — of touch like thunderbolt and lightning; paragopuradāraṇam — shatterer of the enemy's gate-towers; taṃ — that; mahoragasaṃkāśaṃ — like a great serpent; pragṛhya — having seized; parighaṃ — the iron club; raṇe — in the battle; dūṣaṇo — Dūṣaṇa; 'bhyapatad — fell upon, attacked; rāmaṃ — Rāma; krūrakarmā — of cruel deeds; niśācaraḥ — the night-roamer
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.