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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.65.26
Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 65: Kabandha’s grasp. A headless being with a chest-eye, belly-mouth and two long arms seizes both brothers as they search the forest
In the sequence: he asks who they are and declares that they have arrived as his food
3.65.26
imaṃ deśam anuprāptau kṣudhārtasyeha tiṣṭhataḥ
sabāṇacāpakhaḍgau ca tīkṣṇaśṛṅgāv ivarṣabhau
mamāsyam anusaṃprāptau durlabhaṃ jīvitaṃ punaḥ
Having reached this region of me who stand here tormented with hunger, and with your arrows, bows and swords, like two bulls with sharp horns, you have come into my mouth — hard now for you to keep your lives.
Words: imaṃ deśam — this region; anuprāptau — the two having reached; kṣudhārtasyeha — of (me) tormented with hunger here; tiṣṭhataḥ — standing; sabāṇacāpakhaḍgau — with arrows, bows and swords; ca — and; tīkṣṇaśṛṅgāv — sharp-horned; ivarṣabhau — like two bulls; mamāsyam — into my mouth; anusaṃprāptau — the two having come; durlabhaṃ — hard to keep, hard to obtain; jīvitaṃ — life; punaḥ — now, again
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.