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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.16.24

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: she threatens to eat Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa so that she and Rāma can roam the forest together → Rāma begins his answer with a smile.

3.16.24

tataḥ parvataśṛṅgāṇi vanāni vividhāni ca
paśyan saha mayā kānta daṇḍakān vicariṣyasi

Then, O beloved, beholding the mountain-peaks and the various forests, you shall roam the Daṇḍaka wilds with me.

Words: tataḥ — then; parvataśṛṅgāṇi — mountain-peaks; vanāni — forests; vividhāni — various; ca — and; paśyan — beholding; saha mayā — with me; kānta — O beloved; daṇḍakān — the Daṇḍaka wilds; vicariṣyasi — you shall roam

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.