Shloka 18

Devanagari script

एकस्त्वकम्प्योबलवान्सङ्क्रमस्सुमहादृढः ।काञ्चनै र्बहुभिस्स्तम्भैर्वेदिकाभिश्चशोभितः ।।।।

Transliteration

ekas tv akampyo balavān saṅkramaḥ sumahādṛḍhaḥ | kāñcanair bahubhis stambhair vedikābhiś ca śobhitaḥ ||

Translation

တံတားဖြတ်ကူးရာတစ်ခုသည် မလှုပ်မယှက်—အားကောင်း၍ အလွန်တင်းမာခိုင်ခံ့ကာ—ရွှေတိုင်များစွာနှင့် ဝေဒိကာ (ပူဇော်ပလက်ဖောင်း/အလ္တာ) များဖြင့် လှပစွာ တန်ဆာဆင်ထားသည်။

Word by Word

त्रायन्तेprotect (serve as protection)

सङ्क्रमाःcrossings/approaches

तत्रthere

परसैन्यागतेwhen the enemy army has come

सतिbeing (the case)

यन्त्रैःby engines

तैःby those

अवकीर्यन्तेare scattered/strewn

परिखासुin the moats

समन्ततःall around

Context

"One of the road ways is very strong and steady, shining with unshakeable golden pillars and altars."

Characters & Entities

Laṅkā

kāñcana (gold)

vedikā (platform/altar)

FAQs

What is the core ethical principle (Dharma) in this verse?

Dharma here is indirectly shown through the idea of stability: what supports a kingdom—structures, institutions, and discipline—must be firm and reliable.

What is the narrative situation?

A standout, especially strong approach/bridge of Laṅkā is being singled out as part of the city’s defensive architecture.

Which character virtue is emphasized?

Steadfastness (dhairya/sthairya) as a strategic and moral quality—what is “unshakable” is praised.