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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.40.27

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

3.40.27

pracchādanārthaṃ bhāvasya na bhakṣayati saṃspṛśan
tasminn eva tataḥ kāle vaidehī śubhalocanā

in order to conceal his true nature, only touched them and did not eat. At that very time, then, Vaidehī of lovely eyes,

Words: pracchādanārthaṃ — for the sake of concealment; bhāvasya — of (his) nature, intent; na bhakṣayati — does not eat; saṃspṛśan — touching; tasminn eva — at that very; tataḥ kāle — then, at (that) time; vaidehī — Vaidehī; śubhalocanā — of lovely eyes

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.