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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.17.22

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 17: Śūrpaṇakhā attacks Sītā. The brothers’ teasing turns to danger, Rāma orders her disfigurement, Lakṣmaṇa cuts off her ears and nose and she flees

In the sequence: screaming and bleeding, she flees to Janasthāna, falls before Khara, and reports the brothers' arrival and her mutilation.

3.17.22

nikṛttakarṇanāsā tu visvaraṃ sā vinadya ca
yathāgataṃ pradudrāva ghorā śūrpaṇakhā vanam

With her ears and nose cut off, the dreadful Śūrpaṇakhā, shrieking a discordant cry, fled the way she had come, into the forest.

Words: nikṛttakarṇanāsā — with ears and nose cut off; tu — and; visvaraṃ — discordantly, with a harsh cry; sā — she; vinadya — having shrieked, cried out; ca — and; yathāgataṃ — the way she had come; pradudrāva — fled, ran off; ghorā — the dreadful one; śūrpaṇakhā — Śūrpaṇakhā; vanam — into the forest

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.