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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.57.23

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 57: Lakṣmaṇa explains his departure. He recounts Sītā’s accusations after the false cry, Rāma insists that her harsh words should not have overridden his order

In the sequence: he confirms that the deer was a rākṣasa who revealed his real form and imitated his voice while dying.

3.57.23

asau hi rākṣasaḥ śete śareṇābhihato mayā
mṛgarūpeṇa yenāham āśramād apavāditaḥ

For that rākṣasa lies dead, struck down by my arrow—he by whom, in the form of a deer, I was lured away from the hermitage.

Words: asau — that; hi — for, indeed; rākṣasaḥ — rākṣasa; śete — lies (dead); śareṇābhihato — struck down by an arrow; mayā — by me; mṛgarūpeṇa — in the form of a deer; yenāham — by whom I; āśramād — from the hermitage; apavāditaḥ — was lured away, enticed

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.