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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.29.23

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 29: Rāma kills Khara with Indra’s arrow. He shatters Khara’s thrown tree, kills him and hears the ṛṣis’ plan, Sītā returns to embrace him

In the sequence: bleeding heavily, Khara rushes straight at Rāma → Rāma steps back and takes a blazing arrow, identified here as a gift of Indra

3.29.23

tam āpatantaṃ saṃrabdhaṃ kṛtāstro rudhirāplutam
apasarpat pratipadaṃ kiṃ cit tvaritavikramaḥ

As he rushed on furiously, drenched in blood, the master of weapons, swift in valor, drew back just a step.

Words: tam — him; āpatantaṃ — rushing on; saṃrabdhaṃ — furious; kṛtāstro — the master of weapons; rudhirāplutam — drenched in blood; apasarpat — drew back, retreated; pratipadaṃ — step by step; kiṃ — a; cit — little; tvaritavikramaḥ — of swift valor

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.