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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.42.5
Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 42: Mārīca’s false cry. Mortally wounded, he calls in Rāma’s voice, Rāma fears for Sītā and takes another deer’s meat before hurrying back
In the sequence: the deer repeatedly appears and disappears, stays just beyond arrow range, and draws him farther into the forest
3.42.5
avekṣyāvekṣya dhāvantaṃ dhanuṣpāṇir mahāvane
ativṛttam iṣoḥ pātāl lobhayānaṃ kadā cana
Looking again and again at it running in the great forest, bow in hand—it, having passed beyond the range of the arrow, luring him on now and then—
Words: avekṣyāvekṣya — looking again and again; dhāvantaṃ — running; dhanuṣpāṇir — bow in hand; mahāvane — in the great forest; ativṛttam — passed beyond; iṣoḥ pātāl — beyond the range (fall) of the arrow; lobhayānaṃ — luring, enticing; kadā cana — now and then, at times
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.