Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 52: Rāvaṇa Again Abducts Sītā
Text 3.52.5
नूनं राम न जानासि महद्व्यसनमात्मनः।
धावन्ति नूनं काकुत्स्थं मदर्थं मृगपक्षिणः॥
nūnaṁ rāma na jānāsi mahad vyasanam ātmanaḥ
dhāvanti nūnaṁ kākutsthaṁ mad-arthaṁ mṛga-pakṣiṇaḥ
nūnam rāma = O Rāma; na jānāsi = don’t You know; mahat = of the great; vyasanam = calamity; ātmanaḥ = [that has befallen] me; dhāvanti nūnam = are running; kākutstham = towards You, the descendant of Kakutstha; mat-artham = to indicate my situation; mṛga-pakṣiṇaḥ = the deer and birds.
O Rāma, the deer and birds are running towards You, the descendant of Kakutstha, to indicate my situation. Don’t You know of the great calamity [that has befallen] me?1
1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: nūnam iti he rāma ātmano mahad vyasanam na jānāsi kim iti kākuḥ. jānāsy eva.
This is a rhetorical question. She intends to tell Śrī Rāma, “Because the deer and birds are running towards You to indicate that I am in a crisis, You surely understand on the basis of that omen that I have been abducted.”