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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.23.22

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: the rākṣasa army arrives with shouting, drums, and twanging bows, driving the animals away

3.23.22

tena śabdena vitrastāḥ śvāpadā vanacāriṇaḥ
dudruvur yatra niḥśabdaṃ pṛṣṭhato nāvalokayan

Terrified by that noise, the forest-roaming beasts of prey fled to wherever it was quiet, without looking back.

Words: tena śabdena — by that noise; vitrastāḥ — terrified; śvāpadā — beasts of prey; vanacāriṇaḥ — forest-roaming; dudruvur — fled, ran; yatra — where; niḥśabdaṃ — silent, without noise; pṛṣṭhato — backward, behind; nāvalokayan — not looking

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.