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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.27.13

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 27: Rāma takes up Viṣṇu’s bow. Khara breaks his bow and shoots away his armour, Rāma uses Agastya’s gift to destroy Khara’s chariot and bow

In the sequence: Khara wounds Rāma while maneuvering his chariot, but Rāma remains undaunted

3.27.13

tataḥ sūryanikāśena rathena mahatā kharaḥ
āsasāda raṇe rāmaṃ pataṅga iva pāvakam

Then Khara, on his great sun-like chariot, bore down on Rāma in the battle, like a moth upon a flame.

Words: tataḥ — then; sūryanikāśena — sun-like; rathena — on the chariot; mahatā — great; kharaḥ — Khara; āsasāda — bore down on, approached; raṇe — in the battle; rāmaṃ — Rāma; pataṅga — a moth, insect; iva — like; pāvakam — fire, flame

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.