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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.40.24

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

3.40.24

mṛgayūthair anugataḥ punar eva nivartate
sītādarśanam ākāṅkṣan rākṣaso mṛgatāṃ gataḥ

Followed by herds of deer, he would come back again—the rākṣasa in deer-form, longing for the sight of Sītā.

Words: mṛgayūthair — by herds of deer; anugataḥ — followed; punar eva — again; nivartate — returns; sītādarśanam — the sight of Sītā; ākāṅkṣan — longing for; rākṣaso — the rākṣasa; mṛgatāṃ gataḥ — having taken deer-form

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.