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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.8.11

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 8: Story of the tapasvin’s sword. Sītā describes how guarding Indra’s weapon corrupted a peaceful ṛṣi and warns Rāma against violence without enmity

In the sequence: seeing him enter the forest armed worries her: a warrior's bow can inflame aggression as fuel feeds fire. To explain, Sītā recalls a tapasvin whose peaceful discipline Indra wished to obstruct

3.8.11

tvaṃ hi bāṇadhanuṣpāṇir bhrātrā saha vanaṃ gataḥ
dṛṣṭvā vanacarān sarvān kaccit kuryāḥ śaravyayam

For you, with bow and arrows in hand, gone to the forest with your brother—on seeing all the forest-dwellers, might you not loose your arrows?

Words: tvaṃ — you; hi — for; bāṇadhanuṣpāṇir — bow and arrows in hand; bhrātrā saha — with your brother; vanaṃ — to the forest; gataḥ — gone; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; vanacarān — the forest-dwellers; sarvān — all; kaccit — perhaps, might it be that; kuryāḥ — you would make; śaravyayam — expending of arrows

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.