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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.35.14

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 35: Mārīca’s warning. He corrects Rāvaṇa’s account of Rāma’s exile, praises Rāma’s character and urges consultation before a plan that could destroy Laṅkā

In the sequence: he praises Rāma's character and compares abducting Sītā to seizing the sun's radiance or entering a blazing fire

3.35.14

kathaṃ tvaṃ tasya vaidehīṃ rakṣitāṃ svena tejasā
icchasi prasabhaṃ hartuṃ prabhām iva vivasvataḥ

How do you wish to carry off by force his Vaidehī, guarded by his own splendour, as though (one could seize) the radiance of the sun?

Words: kathaṃ — how; tvaṃ — you; tasya — his; vaidehīṃ — Vaidehī; rakṣitāṃ — guarded, protected; svena tejasā — by his own splendour; icchasi — you wish; prasabhaṃ — by force; hartuṃ — to carry off; prabhām iva — like the radiance; vivasvataḥ — of the sun (Vivasvat)

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.