तस्मिन्महति सङ्ग्रामे पुरुषान्क्षतविक्षतान्।
रात्रौ प्रसुप्तान्घ्नन्ति स्म तरसासाद्य राक्षसाः॥
tasmin mahati saṅgrāme puruṣān kṣata-vikṣatān
rātrau prasuptān ghnanti sma tarasāsādya rākṣasāḥ
tasmin = in the midst of that; mahati = great; saṅgrāme = battle; puruṣān = men; kṣata-vikṣatān = these men had been wounded and injured; rātrau = at night; prasuptān = asleep; ghnanti sma = attacked; tarasā = suddenly; āsādya = arrived and; rākṣasāḥ = the rākṣasas.
In the midst of that great battle, the rākṣasas suddenly arrived and attacked men asleep at night. These men had been wounded and injured.
1 Because they are referred to as asuras in the next verse. Since Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa identifies men by their activities and not their birth, it appears that they were asuras by birth and rākṣasas by activity. Asuras and rākṣasas are counted as different species in the universe in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.10.28-29.
The men had been wounded, that is, [pierced] by arrows, lances and the like, and injured, that is, struck by swords, axe and so on. Because it is stated that the rākṣasas had attacked the men at night, it is understood that the men had been wounded and injured in the war during the day. These rākṣasas were [actually] asuras.1