Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 23: Khara Disregards Evil Omens on the Way
Text 3.23.19
तान्समीक्ष्य महोत्पातानुत्थितान्रोमहर्षणान्।
अब्रवीद्राक्षसान्सर्वान्प्रहसन्स खरस्तदा॥
tān samīkṣya mahotpātān utthitān roma-harṣaṇān
abravīd rākṣasān sarvān prahasan sa kharas tadā
tān = those; samīkṣya = observing; mahā-utpātān = and great portents; utthitān = that had just appeared; roma-harṣaṇān = terrifying; abravīt = spoke; rākṣasān = the rākṣasas [as follows]; sarvān = to all; prahasan = laughingly; saḥ kharaḥ tadā = Khara.
Observing those terrifying and great portents that had just appeared, Khara laughingly spoke to all the rākṣasas [as follows].
1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: roma-harṣaṇān romāñcakarān bhaya-janakān ity arthaḥ.
Those portents were terrifying, that is, they caused [the onlookers’] hair to stand on end.1 In this regard, Sāhitya-cintāmaṇi states:
ulkā-nipāta-nirghāta-vyāla-vyāghrādi-darśanaiḥ
utpannaḥ sahasā citta-vikṣobha-trāsa iṣyate
netra-sammīlanotkampa-gātra-saṅkoca-gadgadaiḥ
vaivarṇya-sveda-romāñca-stambhādyair anubhāvyate
“It is acknowledged that mental agitation and terror arise as soon as one sees the fall of a meteor, nirghāta, a snake, tiger and so on. Closing his eyes, trembling, shrinking his body, faltering, becoming discolored, perspiring, hairs standing on end, being stunned and so on are the natural immediate reactions to this.”
Prahasan (“laughingly”) indicates that Khara was proud.