Shloka 3.35.40
मारीचाश्रमगमनम् (Ravana’s Journey to Maricha’s Hermitage)
तं स्वयं पूजयित्वा तु भोजनेनोदकेन च।अर्थोपहितया वाचा मारीचो वाक्यमब्रवीत्।।।।
sa śvetavālavyajanaḥ śvetacchatro daśānanaḥ |
snigdhavaidūryasaṅkāśaḥ staptakāñcanakuṇḍalaḥ ||
viṃśadbhujō daśagrīvo darśanīyaparicchadaḥ |
tridaśārir munīndraghno daśaśīrṣa ivādrirāṭ ||
kāmagaṃ ratham āsthāya śuśubhe rākṣaseśvaraḥ |
vidyunmaṇḍalavān meghaḥ sabalāka ivāmbare ||
With white yak-tail fans and a white parasol, the ten-faced Rāvaṇa—gleaming like polished vaidūrya, wearing heated-gold earrings—ten-necked and twenty-armed, splendidly adorned, foe of the gods and slayer of great sages, like a mountain-king with ten peaks, shone as he mounted the wish-moving chariot, like a cloud in the sky ringed with lightning and attended by cranes.
Maricha extended his hospitality with appropriate food and water and said with meaningful words:
The Ramayana warns that brilliance and majesty do not equal dharma. Rāvaṇa’s dazzling appearance is juxtaposed with epithets like “slayer of sages,” implying moral decline beneath grandeur.
A detailed poetic description frames Rāvaṇa’s departure, heightening tension before his encounter with Mārīca and the unfolding plot against Rāma.
No virtue is emphasized; the verse stresses overwhelming power and intimidating splendor, reinforcing the theme that unchecked power without satya and dharma becomes destructive.