Shloka 3.10.12
दशमः सर्गः — Rama’s Vow to Protect the Sages of Daṇḍaka (Dharma of Refuge)
होमकालेषु सम्प्राप्ताः पर्वकालेषु चानघ।धर्षयन्ति सुदुर्धर्षा राक्षसाः पिशिताशनाः।।।।
homakāleṣu samprāptāḥ parvakāleṣu cānagha | dharṣayanti sudurdharṣā rākṣasāḥ piśitāśanāḥ ||
“O sinless one, those flesh-eating rākṣasas—hard to resist—arrive at the very times of our homa offerings and on festival or lunar observance days, and they violate and attack us.”
'O sinless one, these cannibals are invincible. They arrive at the time of our sacrificial rituals, on the days of festivities or at the time of lunar conjunctions like no moon or full moon days and attack us.
Dharma includes safeguarding sacred rites and communal religious life; attacks on yajña/homa are portrayed as attacks on the moral-spiritual order itself.
The sages specify the pattern of harassment: rākṣasas deliberately strike during rituals and observance days when ascetics are engaged in worship.
The sages’ steadfastness in ritual duty despite fear, and the expectation of righteous protection for those maintaining sacred practices.