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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.76.17
Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 76: Return to Ayodhyā: The couples’ reception and married life. Rāma gives the bow to Varuṇa and comforts Daśaratha, Ayodhyā welcomes the couples and Rāma & Sītā grow in mutual affection
In the sequence: his affection grows through her character, beauty, and their honored marriage → her love answers his, understood heart to heart
1.76.17
tasya bhūyo viśeṣeṇa maithilī janakātmajā
devatābhiḥ samā rūpe sītā śrīr iva rūpiṇī
To him, the Maithilī, Janaka's daughter Sītā — equal to the goddesses in beauty, like Śrī incarnate — was dear all the more, above all others.
Words: tasya — to him, his; bhūyo — all the more; viśeṣeṇa — especially, above all; maithilī — the Maithilī (princess of Mithilā); janakātmajā — Janaka's daughter; devatābhiḥ — to the goddesses; samā — equal; rūpe — in beauty, in form; sītā — Sītā; śrīr — Śrī (goddess of fortune and beauty); iva — like; rūpiṇī — incarnate, embodied
Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.