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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.40.25
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
3.40.25
paribhramati citrāṇi maṇḍalāni viniṣpatan
samudvīkṣya ca sarve taṃ mṛgā ye 'nye vanecarāḥ
He wandered about, bounding off in brilliant circles; and all the other deer, forest-rangers, catching sight of him,
Words: paribhramati — wanders about; citrāṇi — brilliant, various; maṇḍalāni — circles; viniṣpatan — bounding forth, springing; samudvīkṣya ca — and having looked up at; sarve — all; taṃ — him; mṛgā — the deer; ye 'nye — which others; vanecarāḥ — forest-rangers
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.