← 3.52.3 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 52: Sītā drops her ornaments · 3.52.5 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.52.4

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

3.52.4

piṅgākṣās tāṃ viśālākṣīṃ netrair animiṣair iva
vikrośantīṃ tadā sītāṃ dadṛśur vānararṣabhāḥ

The tawny-eyed bull-monkeys then gazed with well-nigh unblinking eyes at that wide-eyed Sītā as she cried out.

Words: piṅgākṣās — the tawny-eyed ones; tāṃ — her; viśālākṣīṃ — the wide-eyed one; netrair — with eyes; animiṣair — unblinking; iva — as if; vikrośantīṃ — crying out; tadā — then; sītāṃ — Sītā; dadṛśur — gazed at; vānararṣabhāḥ — the bull-monkeys

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.