यदा यदा तु यज्ञेन यजेऽहं विबुधव्रजान् । तदा तदा तु मे यज्ञं विनिघ्नन्ति निशाचराः ॥ ५ ॥
yadā yadā tu yajñēna yajē’haṁ vibudhavrajān | tadā tadā tu mē yajñaṁ vinighnanti niśācarāḥ || 5 ||
Translation
"Whenever I worship the hosts of the gods with sacrifice, then the night-roamers wreck my sacrifice.
Word by word
- yadā
- whenever
- tu
- and
- yajñēna
- with sacrifice
- yajē
- worship
- ahaṁ
- I
- vibudha
- of the gods
- vrajān
- the hosts
- tadā
- then
- mē
- my
- yajñaṁ
- sacrifice
- vinighnanti
- wreck
- niśācarāḥ
- the night-roamers
Meaning
Rākṣasas are "night-roamers" (niśācara): they come in the dark.