¹ After loudly contemplating on how the demoniac change their forms to achieve their evil purposes, Śrī Rāma is now convinced that this deer is a rākṣasa in disguise. Therefore, we will find Him taking His weapons. But if He knows that this deer is a rākṣasa, why does He want to kill the deer? Won’t the deer just transform into the rākṣasa that it is in fact? And so, why bother to chase that deer, which is anyway going to disappear (along with its captivating skin)? In answer to these questions, it should be noted that Lord Rāma is currently demonstrating the consequence of being a thoughtless, henpecked husband who is enamored by whatever his wife is enamored by. Strī-saṅgināṁ gatim iti prathayaṁś cacāra: “Thus He showed by His personal example the condition of a person attached to women.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 9.10.11) That Śrī Rāma acted in this manner at that point in time to inform the world that even great persons can become bewildered [at times and that they should therefore be constantly alert to prevent such occurrences] is even acknowledged by the great scholar of karma-kāṇḍa, Tryambaka Yajvan, in his Dharmākūta: mahā-puruṣāṇāṁ buddhi-vyāmoho bhavatīty atra sabhā-parvaṇi dharmaḥ: “asambhave hema-mayasya jantoḥ tathāpi rāmo lulubhe mṛgāya, prāyaḥ samāsanna-parābhavāṇāṁ dhiyo viparyastatarā bhavanti.” The verse quoted here appears as supplementary text 02*0583 after text 2.67.5 in the BORI edition of the Mahābhārata.