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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.39.16

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 39: Mārīca’s final warning. He condemns advisers who fail to restrain a destructive ruler and predicts that the abduction will kill them both and ruin Laṅkā

In the sequence: he predicts destruction for the rākṣasas under Rāvaṇa's leadership

3.39.16

tad idaṃ kākatālīyaṃ ghoram āsāditaṃ tvayā
atra kiṃ śobhanaṃ yat tvaṃ sasainyo vinaśiṣyasi

This terrible disaster, come by mere chance, you have brought upon yourself; what good is there in this—that you, together with your army, shall perish?

Words: tad idaṃ — this; kākatālīyaṃ — a chance coincidence (the crow and the palm-fruit); ghoram — terrible; āsāditaṃ — encountered, come upon; tvayā — by you; atra — in this; kiṃ śobhanaṃ — what good; yat — that; tvaṃ — you; sasainyo — with your army; vinaśiṣyasi — will perish

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.