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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.16.22

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 16: Śūrpaṇakhā’s proposal. Rāvaṇa’s sister asks Rāma to marry her and threatens to eat Sītā & Lakṣmaṇa so they can roam the forest together

In the sequence: boasting of her own power, she asks Rāma to marry her and dismisses Sītā as an unsuitable wife

3.16.22

vikṛtā ca virūpā ca na seyaṃ sadṛśī tava
aham evānurūpā te bhāryā rūpeṇa paśya mām

Deformed and ugly, this one (Sītā) is no match for you; I alone am a fitting wife for you in beauty — look at me!

Words: vikṛtā — misshapen, deformed; ca — and; virūpā — ugly; ca — and; na — not; seyaṃ — this she; sadṛśī — a match, like; tava — for you; aham — I; evānurūpā — alone (am) fitting; te — for you; bhāryā — wife; rūpeṇa — in beauty, form; paśya — look at, behold; mām — me

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.