← 3.39.16 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 39: Mārīca’s final warning · 3.39.18 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.39.17
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: expecting Rāma to kill him, he says at least he will die at an enemy's hands → Rāvaṇa should regard his own death and that of his relatives as equally certain once he takes Sītā
3.39.17
māṃ nihatya tu rāmo 'sau nacirāt tvāṃ vadhiṣyati
anena kṛtakṛtyo 'smi mriye yad ariṇā hataḥ
When that Rāma has slain me, he will before long slay you too; by this at least I am fulfilled—that I die slain by an enemy.
Words: māṃ nihatya — having slain me; tu — but; rāmo 'sau — that Rāma; nacirāt — before long; tvāṃ — you; vadhiṣyati — will slay; anena — by this; kṛtakṛtyo 'smi — I am fulfilled, have gained my end; mriye — I die; yad — in that; ariṇā — by an enemy; hataḥ — slain
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.