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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.28.5
Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 28: Khara’s mace destroyed. Rāma condemns his attacks on the ṛṣis, Khara throws a blazing mace and Rāma shatters it with arrows
In the sequence: Facing the now dismounted Khara, Rāma condemns his cruelty and the killing of tapasvins → he says power cannot protect someone forever from the consequences of such actions
3.28.5
lobhāt pāpāni kurvāṇaḥ kāmād vā yo na budhyate
bhraṣṭaḥ paśyati tasyāntaṃ brāhmaṇī karakād iva
He who, doing evil out of greed or lust, does not come to his senses, being fallen, sees his own end — as a brahmin woman is ruined by a karaka. [simile obscure]
Words: lobhāt — out of greed; pāpāni — evil deeds; kurvāṇaḥ — doing; kāmād — out of lust; vā — or; yo — who; na budhyate — does not come to his senses; bhraṣṭaḥ — fallen, ruined; paśyati — sees; tasyāntaṃ — his end; brāhmaṇī — a brahmin woman; karakād — from a karaka (hailstone / fatal thing); iva — as, like
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.