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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.60.19

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 60: Traces of Sītā’s abduction. Flowers, footprints, blood and chariot wreckage suggest a struggle, Rāma’s uncertainty turns to threats against the whole world

In the sequence: angered by the silence around him, he threatens to destroy the mountain or dry up the river unless they reveal her whereabouts. Rāma finds the deep footprint of a rākṣasa and Sītā's trampled tracks

3.60.19

tāṃ hemavarṇāṃ hemābhāṃ sītāṃ darśaya parvata
yāvat sānūni sarvāṇi na te vidhvaṃsayāmy aham

“Show me Sītā, gold-hued and golden-gleaming, O mountain — before I shatter all your peaks!”

Words: tāṃ — that; hemavarṇāṃ — gold-hued; hemābhāṃ — golden-gleaming; sītāṃ — Sītā; darśaya — show; parvata — O mountain; yāvat — before, as long as; sānūni — the peaks, table-lands; sarvāṇi — all; na — not; te — your; vidhvaṃsayāmy — I shatter, destroy; aham — I

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.