← 3.52.1 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 52: Sītā drops her ornaments · 3.52.3 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.52.2
Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 52: Sītā drops her ornaments. She drops her silk and ornaments among five monkeys, Rāvaṇa confines her in Laṅkā and sends agents to Janasthāna
In the sequence: hoping they may convey news to Rāma, she deliberately drops her golden-colored silk upper garment together with ornaments among them → Rāvaṇa, hurrying onward, does not notice, while the monkeys look up at her cries
3.52.2
teṣāṃ madhye viśālākṣī kauśeyaṃ kanakaprabham
uttarīyaṃ varārohā śubhāny ābharaṇāni ca
mumoca yadi rāmāya śaṃseyur iti maithilī
In their midst the wide-eyed, fair-hipped Maithilī let fall her golden-hued silk upper-garment and her lovely ornaments, thinking, 'Perhaps they will tell Rāma.'
Words: teṣāṃ — of them; madhye — in the midst; viśālākṣī — the wide-eyed one; kauśeyaṃ — silk; kanakaprabham — golden-hued; uttarīyaṃ — upper garment; varārohā — the fair-hipped one; śubhāny — lovely; ābharaṇāni — ornaments; ca — and; mumoca — let fall, released; yadi — if, perhaps; rāmāya — to Rāma; śaṃseyur — they might tell; iti — thus (thinking); maithilī — Maithilī
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.