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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.31.15

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 31: Śūrpaṇakhā rebukes Rāvaṇa. She exposes his ignorance of Janasthāna’s destruction and warns that pleasure, failed intelligence and neglect will cost him his Kingdom

In the sequence: she warns that a harsh, arrogant, inaccessible ruler will find no support when disaster comes

3.31.15

atimāninam agrāhyam ātmasaṃbhāvitaṃ naram
krodhanaṃ vyasane hanti svajano 'pi narādhipam

A king who is overweening, unapproachable, self-conceited, and wrathful, even his own people destroy in his hour of calamity.

Words: atimāninam — overweening, overly proud; agrāhyam — unapproachable, not to be grasped; ātmasaṃbhāvitaṃ — self-conceited; naram — the man; krodhanaṃ — wrathful; vyasane — in calamity; hanti — kills, destroys; svajano 'pi — even his own people; narādhipam — the king

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.