सूतमागधसम्बाधां श्रीमतीमतुलप्रभाम् । उच्चाट्टालध्वजवतीं शतघ्नीशतसङ्कुलाम् ।।1.5.11।।
Meaning
Thronged with bards and genealogists and gleaming with matchless splendor, it was crowned with flagged towers and stocked with hundreds of siege weapons.
Word-by-word (pada-artha)
| Word | Devanagari | Meaning | Grammatical role |
|---|---|---|---|
| sūta māgadha sambādhām | सूत मागध सम्बाधाम् | eulogists, panej~nrists, muchly crammed with | Accusative singular |
| śrīmatīm atula prabhām | श्रीमतीम् अतुल प्रभाम् | prosperous one,[ city,] highly, splendorous | Accusative singular |
| uccāṭṭāla dhvajavatīm | उच्चाट्टाल ध्वजवतीम् | bastions, flags she has | Accusative singular |
| śataghnī śata samkulām | शतघ्नी शत सम्कुलाम् | canons, hundreds, of batteries | Accusative singular |
Scholar commentary
valmikiramayan.net Prose Commentary
Desiraju Hanumanta Rao's prose rendering with embedded explanatory notes
The source glosses 'shataghni' (literally 'that which kills a hundred') as a specific weapon type -- described elsewhere as a four-sided iron implement studded with spikes, essentially a large thorned stone or cannon-like device mounted on fortifications -- and notes that fuller technical descriptions of it survive in the Yajur Aranyaka.
1 of 16 traditions have commentary on this shloka. Traditions without a verse-specific commentary here are omitted rather than filled in.
Reference: 1.5.11 · Bāla Kāṇḍa