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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.23.13

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: Lakṣmaṇa obeys and enters the cave with Sītā

3.23.13

evam uktas tu rāmeṇa lakṣmaṇaḥ saha sītayā
śarān ādāya cāpaṃ ca guhāṃ durgāṃ samāśrayat

Thus addressed by Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, taking his arrows and bow, betook himself with Sītā to a cave hard of access.

Words: evam uktas — thus addressed; tu — and; rāmeṇa — by Rāma; lakṣmaṇaḥ — Lakṣmaṇa; saha sītayā — with Sītā; śarān — arrows; ādāya — having taken; cāpaṃ — bow; ca — and; guhāṃ — cave; durgāṃ — hard of access; samāśrayat — betook himself to, resorted to

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.