क्षेप्तारं पर्वतेन्द्राणां सुराणां च प्रमर्दनम्।
उच्छेत्तारं च धर्माणां परदाराभिमर्शनम्।
सर्वदिव्यास्त्रयोक्तारं यज्ञविघ्नकरं सदा॥
kṣeptāraṁ parvatendrāṇāṁ surāṇāṁ ca pramardanam
ucchettāraṁ ca dharmāṇāṁ para-dārābhimarśanam
sarva-divyāstra-yoktāraṁ yajña-vighnakaraṁ sadā
kṣeptāram = he had thrown; parvata-indrāṇām = excellent mountains; surāṇām = the devas; ca = and; pramardanam = crushed; ucchettāram ca = he had completely eradicated; dharmāṇām = dharma; para-dāra-abhimarśanam = and touched others’ wives; sarva-divya-astra-yoktāram = he used all [kinds of] celestial weapons; yajña-vighnakaram = created obstacles for fire sacrifices; sadā = and constantly.
He had thrown excellent mountains and crushed the devas. He had completely eradicated dharma and touched others’ wives. He used all [kinds of] celestial weapons and constantly created obstacles for fire sacrifices.
1 There is no redundancy here between “He had completely destroyed dharma” [as explained by the commentator] and “[He] constantly created obstacles for fire sacrifices.” The former points out that he completely destroyed yajñas while the latter points out that he did so constantly. Taken together with text 30, it appears that Rāvaṇa presented various obstacles for the performance of yajñas, which constituted the yuga-dharma for Tretā-yuga.
“He had completely destroyed dharma” indicates that he functioned outside the range of scriptural teachings. In this context, it indicates that he destroyed yajñas performed by others.1
NOTE. The Rāmāyaṇa makes it clear that taking shelter of the demigods is not worth it for anyone seeking permanent freedom from the difficulties of material life. After all, the demigods themselves are often found to be in serious trouble—so how can they award permanent freedom from the threefold miseries of material existence?
Lord Kṛṣṇa explains this point in the following verse of Bhagavad-gītā:
antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām
devān deva-yajo yānti mad-bhaktā yānti mām api
“Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.” (Bhagavad-gītā 7.23)