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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.40.31

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: Sītā comes out gathering flowers and sees him → his extraordinary appearance holds her attention while he continues moving within view.

3.40.31

sa ca tāṃ rāma dayitāṃ paśyan māyāmayo mṛgaḥ
vicacāra tatas tatra dīpayann iva tad vanam

And that illusory deer, seeing her, the beloved of Rāma, roamed there this way and that, as though setting the forest ablaze.

Words: sa ca — and he; tāṃ — her; rāma — (of) Rāma (compound-initial); dayitāṃ — beloved; paśyan — seeing; māyāmayo — illusory, magical; mṛgaḥ — deer; vicacāra — roamed; tatas tatra — there, this way and that; dīpayann iva — as if lighting up; tad vanam — that forest

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.