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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.45.36
Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 45: Rāvaṇa reveals his identity. Sītā recounts her marriage and exile, he offers Queenship in Laṅkā and she rejects him with warnings of destruction
In the sequence: she compares his desire to a jackal seeking a lioness and lists impossible, self-destructive acts as parallels for taking Rāma's wife
3.45.36
akṣisūcyā pramṛjasi jihvayā leḍhi ca kṣuram
rāghavasya priyāṃ bhāryām adhigantuṃ tvam icchasi
'You would rub your eye with a needle and lick a razor with your tongue — you who wish to win the beloved wife of Rāghava!'
Words: akṣisūcyā — with a needle to the eye; pramṛjasi — you wipe, rub; jihvayā — with the tongue; leḍhi — you lick; ca — and; kṣuram — a razor; rāghavasya — of Rāghava; priyāṃ — beloved; bhāryām — wife; adhigantuṃ — to obtain; tvam — you; icchasi — wish
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.