Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 24: Lord Rāma Prepares to Fight With Khara’s Army
Text 3.24.5
सधूमाश्च शराः सर्वे मम युद्धाभिनन्दिनः।
रुक्मपृष्ठानि चापानि विवेष्टन्ते च लक्ष्मण॥
sadhūmāś ca śarāḥ sarve mama yuddhābhinandinaḥ
rukma-pṛṣṭhāni cāpāni viveṣṭante ca lakṣmaṇa
sa-dhūmāḥ ca = are [now] smoky; śarāḥ = arrows; sarve = all of; mama = My; yuddha-abhinandinaḥ = and so I am delighted to enter the war; rukma-pṛṣṭāni = Our gold-plated; cāpāni = bows; viveṣṭante ca = are moving about; lakṣmaṇa = Lakṣmaṇa.
Lakṣmaṇa, all of My arrows are [now] smoky and so I am delighted to enter the war. Our gold-plated bows are moving about.1
1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: cāpāni dhanūṁṣi. “athāstriyāṁ dhanuś-cāpau” ity amaraḥ.
“[All of My arrows] are [now] smoky” implies that they are prepared [for war due to being] in the fire of valor. “[Our gold-plated bows] are moving about,” indicates that they are ready for war. Śrī Rāma had two bows and Śrī Lakṣmaṇa had one.
GLOSS. “The arrows” [actually] refer to the presiding deities of those arrows. Such a usage [will recur] later on [in the Rāmāyaṇa].