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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.45.37

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

3.45.37

avasajya śilāṃ kaṇṭhe samudraṃ tartum icchasi
sūryā candramasau cobhau prāṇibhyāṃ hartum icchasi
yo rāmasya priyāṃ bhāryāṃ pradharṣayitum icchasi

'With a stone tied around your neck you wish to cross the ocean; you wish to snatch up both the sun and the moon with your two hands — you who would violate the beloved wife of Rāma!'

Words: avasajya — having tied, hung; śilāṃ — a stone; kaṇṭhe — around the neck; samudraṃ — the ocean; tartum — to cross; icchasi — you wish; sūryā — the sun (in the pair); candramasau — and the moon (the two); cobhau — and both; prāṇibhyāṃ — with (your) two hands; hartum — to seize; icchasi — you wish; yo — who; rāmasya — of Rāma; priyāṃ — beloved; bhāryāṃ — wife; pradharṣayitum — to assault, violate; 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.