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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.40.22

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 repeatedly goes away and returns, mingling with the deer → the real deer smell him and flee; he suppresses his habit of eating them so as not to expose himself

3.40.22

punar gatvā nivṛttaś ca vicacāra mṛgottamaḥ
gatvā muhūrtaṃ tvarayā punaḥ pratinivartate

Going away and returning again, that best of deer roamed about; going off in haste for a moment, he would come back again.

Words: punar gatvā — going again; nivṛttaś ca — and returning; vicacāra — roamed; mṛgottamaḥ — the best of deer; gatvā — having gone; muhūrtaṃ — for a moment; tvarayā — in haste; punaḥ — again; pratinivartate — returns

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.