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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.60.35

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: unable to determine whether she was abducted or killed, he feels that his compassion has been mistaken for weakness and that dharma has failed to protect her

3.60.35

hṛtā mṛtā vā sītā hi bhakṣitā vā tapasvinī
na dharmas trāyate sītāṃ hriyamāṇāṃ mahāvane

“Poor Sītā has surely been carried off, or slain, or devoured; dharma did not protect Sītā as she was being borne away in the great forest.”

Words: hṛtā — carried off; mṛtā — dead, slain; vā — or; sītā — Sītā; hi — indeed; bhakṣitā — devoured; vā — or; tapasvinī — the poor one, hapless (lit. austere) one; na — not; dharmas — dharma, righteousness; trāyate — protects, saves; sītāṃ — Sītā; hriyamāṇāṃ — being carried away; mahāvane — in the great forest

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.