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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.31.7
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 argues that a ruler who neglects business, intelligence, and the protection of his territory will lose both authority and Kingdom
3.31.7
ātmavadbhir vigṛhya tvaṃ devagandharvadānavaiḥ
ayuktacāraś capalaḥ kathaṃ rājā bhaviṣyasi
Having made war with self-possessed gods, gandharvas, and dānavas, while your espionage is ill-managed and you are fickle, how will you remain a king?
Words: ātmavadbhir — with self-possessed ones; vigṛhya — having made war, quarrelled; tvaṃ — you; devagandharvadānavaiḥ — with gods, gandharvas, and dānavas; ayuktacāraś — with ill-managed espionage; capalaḥ — fickle, unsteady; kathaṃ — how; rājā — king; bhaviṣyasi — will you be, remain
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.