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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.90.8

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 90: Lakṣmaṇa suspects Bharata’s army. He recognizes the banner, assumes an attack and urges Rāma to extinguish the fire, hide Sītā and prepare to fight

In the sequence: Lakṣmaṇa climbs a tree and sees the army to the north → he tells Rāma to put out the fire, hide Sītā in a cave, and prepare his weapons

2.90.8

udaṅmukhaḥ prekṣamāṇo dadarśa mahatīṃ camūm
rathāśvagajasaṃbādhāṃ yattair yuktāṃ padātibhiḥ

Turning to face north and looking, he saw a great army, dense with chariots, horses, and elephants, and furnished with alert foot-soldiers.

Words: udaṅmukhaḥ — facing north; prekṣamāṇo — looking, gazing; dadarśa — saw; mahatīṃ camūm — a great army; rathāśvagajasaṃbādhāṃ — dense with chariots, horses, and elephants; yattair — by the alert, ready ones; yuktāṃ — furnished, joined; padātibhiḥ — with foot-soldiers

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.