Shloka 6
Virādha-saṃvādaḥ — Encounter with Virādha in the Daṇḍakāraṇya
Aranya Kanda, Sarga 2
वसानं चर्म वैयाघ्रं वसार्द्रं रुधिरोक्षितम्।त्रासनं सर्वभूतानां व्यादितास्यमिवान्तकम्।।।।
vasānaṃ carma vaiyāghraṃ vasārdraṃ rudhirokṣitam | trāsanaṃ sarvabhūtānāṃ vyāditāsyam ivāntakam ||
সে বাঘচর্ম পরিধান করেছিল—চর্বিতে সিক্ত ও রক্তে ছিটানো; সকল প্রাণীকে আতঙ্কিত করত, হাঁ করা মুখে যেন স্বয়ং অন্তক (যম) দাঁড়িয়ে আছে।
Wearing a tiger-skin, he resembled the god of death. With a wide, open mouth, wet with marrow and drenched with blood, he struck terror into all beings.
FAQs
Dharma requires confronting terror without yielding to it; the verse depicts fear as a weapon of adharma, which the righteous must overcome.
Virādha’s gruesome attire and death-like presence are described as he approaches the protagonists.
Fearlessness (abhaya)—the implied moral demand on Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa is steadiness in the face of horror.