Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 46: Rāvaṇa Disguises Himself and Approaches Sītā
Text 3.46.3

श्लक्ष्णकाषायसंवीतः शिखी छत्री उपानही।
वामे चांसेऽवसज्याथ शुभे यष्टिकमण्दलू।
परिव्राजकरूपेण वैदेहीं समुपागमत्॥

ślakṣṇa-kāṣāya-saṁvītaḥ śikhī chatrī upānahī
vāme cāṁse ’vasajyātha śubhe yaṣṭi-kamaṇdalū
parivrājaka-rūpeṇa vaidehīṁ samupāgamat

ślakṣṇa-kāṣāya-saṁvītaḥ = clothed in clean saffron [robes]; śikhī = he had a śikhā; chatrī = umbrella; upānahī = [wooden] shoes; vāme = on his left; ca = and; aṁse = shoulder; avasajya atha = he placed; śubhe = a clean; yaṣṭi-kamaṇdalū = tridaṇḍa and kamaṇḍalu; parivrājaka-rūpeṇa = in the form of a sannyāsī; vaidehīm = Vaidehī; samupāgamat = and approached.

Clothed in clean saffron [robes], he had a śikhā, umbrella and [wooden] shoes. He placed a clean tridaṇḍa and kamaṇḍalu on his left shoulder and approached Vaidehī in the form of a sannyāsī.1

Yaṣṭi (literally “stick”) refers to a tridaṇḍa because Rāvaṇa is also described as having a śikhā.1 Because he assumed [this form] to convince Sītā-devī, who was the beloved daughter of the dynasty of King Janaka which was primarily absorbed in dharma, it is evident that these are the characteristics of a sannyāsī. That these are the characteristics of a sannyāsī is confirmed by Aṅgirā 1. Parivrājaka-rūpeṇa (“in the form of a sannyāsī”) indicates that he had a brahmin thread and so on.

NOTE. Mahābhārata 3.262.16 explicitly states that Rāvaṇa had assumed the form of a sannyāsi with his head shaven and while holding a kamaṇḍalu and triḍaṇḍa: rāvaṇas tu yatir bhūtvā muṇḍaḥ kuṇḍī tridaṇḍadhṛk.2

1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: samupāgamad iti pratipādyārtha-bhedāt punaḥ punaḥ kriyā-pada-prayogaḥ. Technical note: śubhe svacche.

1 Tridaṇḍī-sannyāsīs have a śikhā. Ekadaṇḍī-sannyāsīs don’t.

2 The verse number is as it is in the BORI edition of Mahābhārata.