← 3.28.5 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 28: Khara’s mace destroyed · 3.28.7 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.28.6
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
3.28.6
vasato daṇḍakāraṇye tāpasān dharmacāriṇaḥ
kiṃ nu hatvā mahābhāgān phalaṃ prāpsyasi rākṣasa
By slaying the illustrious ascetics who dwell in the Daṇḍaka forest, practising dharma, what fruit will you gain, rākṣasa?
Words: vasato — dwelling; daṇḍakāraṇye — in the Daṇḍaka forest; tāpasān — ascetics; dharmacāriṇaḥ — practising dharma; kiṃ nu — what indeed; hatvā — having slain; mahābhāgān — the illustrious, greatly fortunate; phalaṃ — fruit, reward; prāpsyasi — will you gain; rākṣasa — O rākṣasa
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.