← 3.47.6 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 47: Sītā’s abduction · 3.47.8 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.47.7

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 47: Sītā’s abduction. Rāvaṇa reveals his ten-faced form and lifts her into his flying chariot, she calls on the forest, river and Jaṭāyu to inform Rāma

In the sequence: he abandons the parivrājaka disguise and reveals his huge, ten-faced, armed form

3.47.7

saṃraktanayanaḥ śrīmāṃs taptakāñcanakuṇḍalaḥ
daśāsyaḥ kārmukī bāṇī babhūva kṣaṇadācaraḥ

Red-eyed, majestic, with earrings of burnished gold, ten-faced, bearing bow and arrows, the night-roamer stood revealed.

Words: saṃraktanayanaḥ — with red eyes; śrīmāṃs — majestic; taptakāñcanakuṇḍalaḥ — with earrings of burnished gold; daśāsyaḥ — the ten-faced; kārmukī — bearing a bow; bāṇī — bearing arrows; babhūva — became; kṣaṇadācaraḥ — the night-roamer

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.