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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.45.23

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 45: Rāvaṇa reveals his identity. Sītā recounts her marriage and exile, he offers Queenship in Laṅkā and she rejects him with warnings of destruction

In the sequence: he says her beauty has made him dissatisfied with his own wives and offers to make her his chief Queen in island Laṅkā, served by five thousand attendants

3.45.23

tvāṃ tu kāñcanavarṇābhāṃ dṛṣṭvā kauśeyavāsinīm
ratiṃ svakeṣu dāreṣu nādhigacchāmy anindite

'But since I beheld you, golden-hued and clad in silk, O blameless one, I find no delight in my own wives.'

Words: tvāṃ — you; tu — but; kāñcanavarṇābhāṃ — of golden hue; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; kauśeyavāsinīm — clad in silk; ratiṃ — delight; svakeṣu — in my own; dāreṣu — wives; nādhigacchāmy — I find not; anindite — O blameless one

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.