← 3.54.1 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 54: Rāvaṇa’s deadline and threat · 3.54.3 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.54.2

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 54: Rāvaṇa’s deadline and threat. Sītā refuses him, he gives her twelve months to submit or be killed for his meal, then sends her to the aśoka grove

In the sequence: she reaffirms her marriage and says Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa will kill him → had he attempted the abduction in Rāma's presence, he would already have died like Khara

3.54.2

rājā daśaratho nāma dharmasetur ivācalaḥ
satyasandhaḥ parijñāto yasya putraḥ sa rāghavaḥ

There was a king named Daśaratha, unshakable as a dyke of dharma, true to his word and renowned—whose son is that Rāghava.

Words: rājā — king; daśaratho — Daśaratha; nāma — named; dharmasetur — a dyke of dharma; ivācalaḥ — unshakable as; satyasandhaḥ — true to his word; parijñāto — renowned, well-known; yasya — whose; putraḥ — son; sa — (is) that; rāghavaḥ — Rāghava

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.