← 3.57.23 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 57: Lakṣmaṇa explains his departure · 3.57.25 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.57.24
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.
3.57.24
vikṛṣya cāpaṃ paridhāya sāyakaṃ salīla bāṇena ca tāḍito mayā
mārgīṃ tanuṃ tyajya ca viklavasvaro babhūva keyūradharaḥ sa rākṣasaḥ
Having drawn my bow and fitted an arrow, and struck by me effortlessly with a shaft, that rākṣasa, casting off his deer-body and crying in a faltering voice, became a wearer of armlets (his true demon form).
Words: vikṛṣya — having drawn; cāpaṃ — bow; paridhāya — having fitted, fixed; sāyakaṃ — arrow; salīla — effortlessly, in sport; bāṇena — with a shaft, arrow; ca — and; tāḍito — struck; mayā — by me; mārgīṃ — deer's, of the antelope; tanuṃ — body, form; tyajya — casting off; ca — and; viklavasvaro — with a faltering voice; babhūva — became; keyūradharaḥ — a wearer of armlets; sa — that; rākṣasaḥ — rākṣasa
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.