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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.55.19

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 55: Rāma meets Lakṣmaṇa. Omens and the false cry make him fear a plot against Sītā, he reproaches Lakṣmaṇa for leaving her alone

In the sequence: he fears she has been killed or taken and explains that the deer revealed itself as a rākṣasa when it died

3.55.19

idaṃ hi rakṣomṛgasaṃnikāśaṃ pralobhya māṃ dūram anuprayātam
hataṃ kathaṃ cin mahatā śrameṇa sa rākṣaso 'bhūn mriyamāṇa eva

"For this creature, in the semblance of a rākṣasa-deer, lured me and made me follow it far; slain only with great effort, it turned into a rākṣasa in the very act of dying."

Words: idaṃ — this; hi — for; rakṣomṛgasaṃnikāśaṃ — in the semblance of a rākṣasa-deer; pralobhya — having lured, enticed; māṃ — me; dūram — far; anuprayātam — followed after; hataṃ — slain; kathaṃ — somehow; cin — -ever; mahatā — great; śrameṇa — with effort; sa — that; rākṣaso — rākṣasa; 'bhūn — became; mriyamāṇa — while dying; eva — in the very act

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.