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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.23.11

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 23: Rāma prepares to fight alone. He reads the omens as signs of victory, sends Sītā & Lakṣmaṇa into a mountain cave and faces the fourteen thousand

In the sequence: he nevertheless insists on taking precautions and orders Lakṣmaṇa to escort Sītā, armed, into a secluded mountain cave → he forbids any argument or delay

3.23.11

tasmād gṛhītvā vaidehīṃ śarapāṇir dhanurdharaḥ
guhām āśrayaśailasya durgāṃ pādapasaṃkulām

Therefore, taking Vaidehī, with arrows in hand and bow in grip, (go to) a cave of the sheltering mountain, hard of access, thick with trees.

Words: tasmād — therefore; gṛhītvā — having taken; vaidehīṃ — Vaidehī (Sītā); śarapāṇir — with arrows in hand; dhanurdharaḥ — bow-bearing; guhām — a cave; āśrayaśailasya — of the sheltering mountain; durgāṃ — hard of access, inaccessible; pādapasaṃkulām — thick with trees

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.