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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.45.38

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: she compares his desire to a jackal seeking a lioness and lists impossible, self-destructive acts as parallels for taking Rāma's wife

3.45.38

agniṃ prajvalitaṃ dṛṣṭvā vastreṇāhartum icchasi
kalyāṇa vṛttāṃ rāmasya yo bhāryāṃ hartum icchasi

'Seeing a blazing fire, you wish to carry it off in your garment — you who would abduct the virtuous wife of Rāma!'

Words: agniṃ — fire; prajvalitaṃ — blazing; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; vastreṇāhartum — to carry off with a cloth; icchasi — you wish; kalyāṇa — of auspicious; vṛttāṃ — conduct; rāmasya — of Rāma; yo — who; bhāryāṃ — wife; hartum — to carry off; icchasi — wish

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.