अथ मध्यमकक्ष्यायां समागम्य सुहृज्जनैः।
स सर्वानर्थिनो दृष्ट्वा समेत्य प्रतिनन्द्य च॥
ततः पावकसङ्काशमारुरोह रथोत्तमम्।
वैयाघ्रं पुरुषव्याघ्रो राजतं राजनन्दनः॥
atha madhyama-kakṣyāyāṁ samāgamya suhṛj-janaiḥ
sa sarvān arthino dṛṣṭvā sametya pratinandya ca
tataḥ pāvaka-saṅkāśam āruroha rathottamam
vaiyāghraṁ puruṣa-vyāghro rājataṁ rāja-nandanaḥ
atha = then; madhyama-kakṣyāyām = by an intermediate gateway; samāgamya = He met; suhṛt-janaiḥ = His well-wishers; saḥ = He; sarvān = all; arthinaḥ = who had come to see Him; dṛṣṭvā = then saw; sametya = met; pratinandya = happily greeted; ca = and; tataḥ = then; pāvaka-saṅkāśam = and which resembled fire; āruroha = climbed on; ratha-uttamam = an excellent chariot; vaiyāghram = which was furnished with a tiger skin; puruṣa-vyāghraḥ = Prince Rāma; rājatam = silver; rāja-nandanaḥ = the beloved son of King Daśaratha.
He then met His well-wishers by an intermediate gateway. He then saw, met and happily greeted all who had come to see Him. Then the beloved son of King Daśaratha, Prince Rāma climbed on an excellent silver chariot which was furnished with a tiger skin and which resembled fire.
Some manuscripts read rājantam instead of rājatam. This indicates that Rāma’s chariot glittered [with illumination].
NOTE. In the Rāmāyaṇa, we often come across deer skin or tiger skin as being auspicious.
Since the skin comes from killing the animal, is it not inauspicious? No, because these skins are naturally and nonviolently acquired. Prabhupāda’s disciples have remarked in their commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.18.2: “A renounced sage in the forest does not kill animals, but rather acquires skins from animals who have suffered natural death.” Bhagavad-gītā 6.11-12 notes that yogīs use deer skin as a seat. Prabhupāda notes in his commentary to Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 10.154) that it is customary for a person who has renounced the world to cover his body with a deerskin or the bark of a tree according to the Manu-saṁhitā.