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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.41.19

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 41: Rāma pursues the deer. Lakṣmaṇa suspects Mārīca, Sītā asks for the living animal or its hide and Rāma leaves Lakṣmaṇa to guard her

In the sequence: she hopes to take it back to Ayodhyā as a living marvel for the family → if it cannot be caught alive, she asks for its golden hide to spread over her grass couch

3.41.19

nihatasyāsya sattvasya jāmbūnadamayatvaci
śaṣpabṛsyāṃ vinītāyām icchāmy aham upāsitum

When this creature is slain, I wish to sit upon its golden hide, spread over a couch of tender grass.

Words: nihatasyāsya — of this slain; sattvasya — creature; jāmbūnadamayatvaci — on the hide made of gold; śaṣpabṛsyāṃ — on a couch of young grass; vinītāyām — spread out, arranged; icchāmy aham — I wish; upāsitum — to sit upon

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.