← 3.51.21 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 51: Sītā condemns the deception · 3.51.23 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.51.22

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 51: Sītā condemns the deception. She connects the golden deer with her abduction, challenges Rāvaṇa to face the brothers and warns him to release her

In the sequence: she recalls Rāma's destruction of the fourteen thousand and insists that he can kill her abductor too → Rāvaṇa continues carrying her as she struggles and laments.

3.51.22

nimeṣāntaramātreṇa vinā bhrātaram āhave
rākṣasā nihatā yena sahasrāṇi caturdaśa

By whom, in but the space of a wink, without his brother, fourteen thousand rākṣasas were slain in battle—

Words: nimeṣāntaramātreṇa — in but the space of a wink; vinā — without; bhrātaram — (his) brother; āhave — in battle; rākṣasā — rākṣasas; nihatā — slain; yena — by whom; sahasrāṇi — thousands; caturdaśa — fourteen

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.