तच्छूलं वज्रसङ्काशं गगने ज्वलनोपमम्।
द्वाभ्यां शराभ्यां चिच्छेद रामः शस्त्रभृतां वरः॥
tac chūlaṁ vajra-saṅkāśaṁ gagane jvalanopamam
dvābhyāṁ śarābhyāṁ ciccheda rāmaḥ śastrabhṛtāṁ varaḥ
tat = that; śūlam = spear in his hand; vajra-saṅkāśam = the spear appeared like a thunderbolt; gagane = in the sky; jvalana-upamam = and resembled fire; dvābhyām = with two; śarābhyām = arrows; ciccheda = cut; rāmaḥ = Rāma; śastrabhṛtām = of the wielders of weapons; varaḥ = the best.
With two arrows, Rāma, the best of the wielders of weapons, cut that spear in his hand. The spear appeared like a thunderbolt and resembled fire in the sky.1
1 The commentator notes that gagane jvalanopamam is an instance of abhūtopamā. This simile is presented in Daṇḍī’s Kāvyādarśa 2.38—sarva-padma-prabhā-sāraḥ samāhṛta iva kvacit / tvad-ānanaṁ vibhātīti tām abhūtopamāṁ viduḥ: “‘Thy face shines like the essence of the splendour of all lotuses as if gathered together in a place.’ This is known as Absolute Simile.” This is Prof. S.K. Belvalkar’s translation as found in his 1924 edition of Kāvyādarśa.