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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.60.34

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 60: Traces of Sītā’s abduction. Flowers, footprints, blood and chariot wreckage suggest a struggle, Rāma’s uncertainty turns to threats against the whole world

In the sequence: unable to determine whether she was abducted or killed, he feels that his compassion has been mistaken for weakness and that dharma has failed to protect her

3.60.34

vairaṃ śataguṇaṃ paśya mamedaṃ jīvitāntakam
sughorahṛdayaiḥ saumya rākṣasaiḥ kāmarūpibhiḥ

“See this hundredfold enmity of mine, that ends my very life, wrought by fell-hearted rākṣasas who take shapes at will, gentle one!”

Words: vairaṃ — enmity, hostility; śataguṇaṃ — hundredfold; paśya — see; mamedaṃ — this of mine; jīvitāntakam — that ends (my) life; sughorahṛdayaiḥ — by the fell-hearted; saumya — O gentle one; rākṣasaiḥ — by the rākṣasas; kāmarūpibhiḥ — taking shapes at will

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.