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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.61.7

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 61: Lakṣmaṇa restrains Rāma’s anger. He rejects destroying the world for one offender and urges a search and persuasion before resorting to force

In the sequence: he says they do not yet know who owned or wrecked the chariot → although the ground clearly shows a fight, it shows no great army, so the evidence does not justify blaming the world for one offender's act

3.61.7

khuranemikṣataś cāyaṃ sikto rudhirabindubhiḥ
deśo nivṛttasaṃgrāmaḥ sughoraḥ pārthivātmaja

And this ground, torn by hooves and wheel-rims and sprinkled with drops of blood—O prince, a most dreadful place where a battle has just ended.

Words: khuranemikṣataś — torn by hooves and wheel-rims; cāyaṃ — and this; sikto — sprinkled, wetted; rudhirabindubhiḥ — with drops of blood; deśo — place, region; nivṛttasaṃgrāmaḥ — where the battle has ended; sughoraḥ — most dreadful; pārthivātmaja — O son of a king, prince

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.