Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 26: Rāmacandra Destroys Dūṣaṇa and his Followers
Text 3.26.28
ते रुक्मपुङ्खा विशिखाः सधूमा इव पावकाः।
निजघ्नुस्तानि रक्षांसि वज्रा इव महाद्रुमान्॥
te rukma-puṅkhā viśikhāḥ sadhūmā iva pāvakāḥ
nijaghnus tāni rakṣāṁsi vajrā iva mahā-drumān
te = those; rukma-puṅkhāḥ = gold-shafted; viśikhāḥ = arrows; sa-dhūmāḥ = with smoke; iva pāvakāḥ = which seemed to blaze; nijaghnuḥ = struck; tāni = those; rakṣāṁsi = rākṣasas; vajrāḥ = thunderbolts; iva = like; mahā-drumān = [striking] great trees.
Those gold-shafted arrows, which seemed to blaze with smoke, struck those rākṣasas like thunderbolts [striking] great trees.
1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: sadhūmā ity anena dahanonmukhatvaṁ vyajyate ity aṅgārāvasthā-vyāvṛttiḥ.
“With smoke” indicates that they didn’t blaze like charcoal.1