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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.16.8
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
3.16.8
sumukhaṃ durmukhī rāmaṃ vṛttamadhyaṃ mahodarī
viśālākṣaṃ virūpākṣī sukeśaṃ tāmramūrdhajā
She, ugly-faced, (looked upon) fair-faced Rāma; she, big-bellied, on him slender-waisted; she, deformed-eyed, on him large-eyed; she, copper-haired, on him fair-haired;
Words: sumukhaṃ — fair-faced (Rāma); durmukhī — ugly-faced (she); rāmaṃ — Rāma; vṛttamadhyaṃ — slender-waisted (Rāma); mahodarī — big-bellied (she); viśālākṣaṃ — large-eyed (Rāma); virūpākṣī — deformed-eyed (she); sukeśaṃ — fair-haired (Rāma); tāmramūrdhajā — copper-haired (she)
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.