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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.16.7

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: the rākṣasī Śūrpaṇakhā, Rāvaṇa's sister, happens to arrive → struck by Rāma's beauty and royal bearing, she becomes attracted to him

3.16.7

rāmam indīvaraśyāmaṃ kandarpasadṛśaprabham
babhūvendropamaṃ dṛṣṭvā rākṣasī kāmamohitā

Seeing Rāma, dark as a blue lotus, of splendour like Kandarpa (the god of love) and resembling Indra, the rākṣasī became bewildered with desire.

Words: rāmam — Rāma; indīvaraśyāmaṃ — dark as a blue lotus; kandarpasadṛśaprabham — of splendour like the god of love; babhūvendropamaṃ — became... (Rāma) resembling Indra; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; rākṣasī — the rākṣasī; kāmamohitā — bewildered with desire

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.