Canto 3: Araṇya-kāṇḍa ()Chapter 43: Sītā Sees the Magical DeerText 3.43.36
Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 43: Sītā Sees the Magical Deer
Text 3.43.36

एष चैव मृगः श्रीमान्यश्च दिव्यो नभश्चरः।
उभावेतौ मृगौ दिव्यौ तारामृगमहीमृगौ॥

eṣa caiva mṛgaḥ śrīmān yaś ca divyo nabhaścaraḥ
ubhāv etau mṛgau divyau tārā-mṛga-mahī-mṛgau

eṣaḥ ca eva = there is a here; mṛgaḥ = mṛga; śrīmān = praiseworthy; yaḥ ca = and a; divyaḥ = celestial; nabhaḥ-caraḥ = Mṛga moving in the sky; ubhau = both; etau = of these; mṛgau = mṛgas; divyau = shine in beauty; tārā-mṛga-mahī-mṛgau = the mṛga among the nakṣatras and the mṛga on earth.

There is a praiseworthy mṛga here and a celestial Mṛga moving in the sky.1 Both of these mṛgas—the mṛga among the nakṣatras and the mṛga on earth—shine in beauty!2

[The “mṛga here” is the deer and] the “celestial mṛga” is the nakṣatra Mṛgaśīrṣa.

Lord Rāma has spoken about His endeavor [to capture the deer] after accepting Sītā-devī’s opinion. He then accepts Lakṣmaṇa’s opinion and states the following verse.

1 Mṛga in Sanskrit commonly means “deer.”

2 “The mṛga among the nakṣatras” is the Mṛgaśīrṣa. “The mṛga on earth” is the deer that Mārīca had transformed himself into.

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