I take shelter of the hero of the Raghus who is favorable to everyone and who always avoids that which is unfavorable to [His] well-wishers.

Sage Vālmīki’s intention behind the usage of arājavat (“which was unbecoming of a king”) is to point out that as soon as a king engages in activities unfavorable to Lord Rāmacandra, he loses his status of a king.¹

The first line can also be read as ājñapto rājavad vākyaṁ pratikūlaṁ niśācaraḥ. This indicates that Rāvaṇa had been haughty as noted in the previous chapter.² “With words unfavorable [to Rāma]” refers to his order to Mārīca that he assume the form of a deer.

GLOSS. [The glossator reads rājavat with the meaning “like a king” indicating that] because Mārīca was fearless, he spoke [to Rāvaṇa] the way Rāvaṇa had spoken to him.

NOTE. Mārīca’s fearless attitude is appropriate for one who is duty-bound to assist his king.

In this regard, we can note how Pradyumna’s charioteer assisted him when Śālva attacked Dvārakā. The following appears in Chapter 76 of Kṛṣṇa: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Prabhupāda’s summary study of the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

The name of Śālva’s commander in chief was Dyumān. He was very powerful, and although bitten by twenty-five of Pradyumna’s arrows, he suddenly attacked Pradyumna with his fierce club and struck him so strongly that Pradyumna became unconscious. Immediately there was a roaring, “Now he is dead! Now he is dead!” The force of the club on Pradyumna’s chest was very severe, and it appeared as though his chest had been torn asunder.

Pradyumna’s chariot was being driven by the son of Dāruka. According to Vedic military principles, the chariot driver and the hero on the chariot must cooperate during the fighting. As such, because it was the duty of the chariot driver to take care of the hero on the chariot during the dangerous and precarious fighting, Dāruka’s son removed Pradyumna from the battlefield. Two hours later, in a quiet place, Pradyumna regained consciousness, and when he  saw that he was in a place other than the battlefield, he addressed the charioteer and condemned him.

“Oh, you have done the most abominable act! Why have you removed me from the battlefield? My dear charioteer, I have never heard that any of our family members was ever removed from the battlefield. None of them left the battlefield while fighting. By this removal you have overburdened me with a great defamation. It will be said that I left the battlefield while fighting was going on. My dear charioteer, I must accuse you—you are a coward and emasculator! Tell me, how can I go before my uncle Balarāma and my father, Kṛṣṇa, and what shall I say before Them? Everyone will talk about me and say that I fled from the fighting place, and if they inquire from me about this, what will be my reply? My sisters-in-law will play jokes upon me with sarcastic words: ’My dear hero, how have you become such a coward? How have you become a eunuch? How have you become so low in the eyes of the fighters who opposed you?’ I think, my dear charioteer, that you have committed a great offense by removing me from the battlefield.”

The charioteer of Pradyumna replied, “My dear sir, I wish a long life for you. I think that I did nothing wrong, for it is the duty of the charioteer to help the fighter in the chariot when he is in a precarious condition. My dear sir, you are completely competent in the battlefield. But it is the duty of the charioteer and the warrior to protect each other in a precarious condition. I was completely aware of the regulative principles of fighting, and I did my duty. The enemy all of a sudden struck you with his club so severely that you lost consciousness. You were in a dangerous position, surrounded by your enemies. Therefore I was obliged to act as I did.”

In the current context of Śrī Rāmāyaṇa, Mārīca is similarly endeavoring to save Rāvaṇa, but to no avail. Vināśa-kāle viparīta-buddhiḥ: “One’s intelligence become perverted when it is time for him to be destroyed.”