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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.40.20

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 40: The golden deer appears. Mārīca yields to Rāvaṇa, travels to the hermitage and assumes a jewelled deer’s form that attracts Sītā while frightening the real deer

In the sequence: he moves gracefully over the grass, nibbles shoots, and approaches the trees near the hut so that Sītā will see him

3.40.20

kadalīgṛhakaṃ gatvā karṇikārān itas tataḥ
samāśrayan mandagatiḥ sītāsaṃdarśanaṃ tadā

Going to a plantain-bower and resorting here and there to the karṇikāra trees, with slow gait, he then came within Sītā's sight.

Words: kadalīgṛhakaṃ — a plantain-bower; gatvā — having gone; karṇikārān — the karṇikāra trees; itas tataḥ — here and there; samāśrayan — resorting to; mandagatiḥ — of slow gait; sītāsaṃdarśanaṃ — within Sītā's sight; tadā — then

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.