ये च बाणैर्न विध्यन्ति विविक्तमपरापरम् । शब्दवेध्यं च विततं लघुहस्ता विशारदा: ।।1.5.20।। सिंहव्याघ्रवराहाणां मत्तानां नर्दतां वने । हन्तारो निशितैश्शस्त्रैर्बलाद्बाहुबलैरपि ।।1.5.21।।
Meaning
Its warriors, sharp-handed and skilled, would never loose an arrow at a lone or defenseless man, or one fleeing, or one tracked merely by sound — yet with sharp weapons or bare strength of arm they could slay roaring, maddened lions, tigers and boars in the forest.
Word-by-word (pada-artha)
Shloka 1.5.20
| Word | Devanagari | Meaning | Grammatical role |
|---|---|---|---|
| ye ca bāṇai: na vidhyanti | ये च बाणैः न विध्यन्ति | those, also, with arrows, not, kill | Verb (present/imperative) |
| viviktam apara param | विविक्तम् अपर परम् | lone one, at his hind [without a successor,] at his fore [without a predecessor] | Accusative singular |
| sabda vedhyam ca vitatam | सब्द वेध्यम् च विततम् | by sound, killing, also, fleeing away | Accusative singular |
| laghu hastā: viśārada: | लघु हस्ताः विशारदः | acumen, handiness, skilful ones | Nominative singular (masc.) |
Shloka 1.5.21
| Word | Devanagari | Meaning | Grammatical role |
|---|---|---|---|
| simha vyāghra varāhāṇām | सिम्ह व्याघ्र वराहाणाम् | lions, tigers, wild boars | Accusative singular |
| mattānām nadatām vane | मत्तानाम् नदताम् वने | fattened ones, roaring, in forests | Locative/Dative singular |
| hantāra: nisitai: sastrai: | हन्तारः निसितैः सस्त्रैः | killers, with sharp, weapons | Nominative singular (masc.) |
| balāt bāhu balai: api | बलात् बाहु बलैः अपि | with might, by arms, might, also | Indeclinable/particle |
Scholar commentary
Shloka 1.5.20
valmikiramayan.net Prose Commentary
Desiraju Hanumanta Rao's prose rendering with embedded explanatory notes
(Part of the archers'-conduct passage, shlokas 20-21 -- see the fuller note at shloka 21.)
1 of 16 traditions have commentary on this shloka. Traditions without a verse-specific commentary here are omitted rather than filled in.
Shloka 1.5.21
valmikiramayan.net Prose Commentary
Desiraju Hanumanta Rao's prose rendering with embedded explanatory notes
The verse's description of Ayodhya's archers refusing to shoot at a fleeing target, a lone man without an heir, or by sound alone ('sonic archery') is connected by the source to a specific story about Dasharatha: in his youth, hunting by sound in the dark, he mistook the noise of a hermit's son filling a water-pot for a drinking animal and killed the boy by accident. The boy's father, a sage, cursed Dasharatha to die grieving for a son -- a curse fulfilled after Rama's exile. The source suggests this incident may be the very reason sound-based archery came to be regarded as dishonorable in Ayodhya.
1 of 16 traditions have commentary on this shloka. Traditions without a verse-specific commentary here are omitted rather than filled in.
Reference: 1.5.20-21 · Bāla Kāṇḍa