← 3.39.19 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 39: Mārīca’s final warning

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.39.20

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: Mārīca concludes that the scheme will destroy both of them, Laṅkā, and its people, but recognizes that Rāvaṇa will not listen.

3.39.20

nivāryamāṇas tu mayā hitaiṣiṇā na mṛṣyase vākyam idaṃ niśācara
paretakalpā hi gatāyuṣo narā hitaṃ na gṛhṇanti suhṛdbhir īritam

Though restrained by me who wish you well, you will not brook this word, O night-ranger; for men whose life is spent, all but dead, do not heed the good counsel urged by their friends.

Words: nivāryamāṇas — being restrained; tu — but; mayā — by me; hitaiṣiṇā — who wishes (your) welfare; na mṛṣyase — you do not brook, tolerate; vākyam idaṃ — this word; niśācara — O night-ranger; paretakalpā — all but dead, like corpses; hi — for; gatāyuṣo — whose life is gone; narā — men; hitaṃ — the good (counsel); na gṛhṇanti — do not accept; suhṛdbhir — by friends; īritam — uttered, urged

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.