रकारादीनि नामानि रामत्रस्तस्य रावण।
रत्नानि च रथाश्चैव त्रासं सञ्जनयन्ति मे॥
ra-kārādīni nāmāni rāma-trastasya rāvaṇa
ratnāni ca rathāś caiva trāsaṁ sañjanayanti me
ra-kāra-ādīni = beginning with the syllable ra such as; nāmāni = even nouns; rāma-trastasya = [for] I am terrified of Rāma; rāvaṇa = Rāvaṇa; ratnāni ca = ratna (“jewel”); rathāḥ = ratha (“chariot”); ca eva = and; trāsam = terror; sañjanayanti = generate; me = in me.
Rāvaṇa, even nouns beginning with the letter ra such as ratna (“jewel”) and ratha (“chariot”) generate terror in me, [for] I am terrified of Rāma!
1 This is the height of terror. If the Supreme Personality of Godhead wants, He can cause immense fear to such an unbelievable extent. But He does this only to miscreant psychopaths who have no sense of doing good to themselves and others to such an extent that they don’t even allow others to engage in varṇāśrama-dharma and bhāgavata-dharma. In fact, such fear is also to prevent them from doing harm to themselves. Sometimes when a mischievous child eats sand and doesn’t want to stop it even when he is advised by his beloved well-wishers, his good mother rashly and effectively frightens him—just to stop his unhealthy activity.
When he heard nouns beginning with the letter ra such as ratna (“jewel”), he became terrified when the first letter was uttered, thinking that the speaker was about to speak about Rāma. It is implied that that terror gradually disappeared [in Mārīca’s mind] when the second letter was uttered [and he realized that the speaker was not speaking about Rāma].1
NOTE. The exact opposite is stated by Lord Śiva to Goddess Pārvatī:
ra-kārādīni nāmāni śṛṇvato devi jāyate
prītir me manaso nityaṁ rāma-nāma-viśaṅkayā
“O goddess, while I hear nouns beginning with the letter ra, my mind always becomes happy with the hope of [hearing] Lord Rāma’s holy name.” (Padma Purāṇa 6.254.21)