Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 63: Rāma’s Pain of Separation from Sītā
Text 3.62.11

मया विहीना विजने वने या रक्षोभिराहृत्य विकृष्यमाणा।
नूनं विनादं कुररीव दीना सा मुक्तवत्यायतकान्तनेत्रा॥

mayā vihīnā vijane vane yā
rakṣobhir āhṛtya vikṛṣyamāṇā
nūnaṁ vinādaṁ kurarīva dīnā
sā muktavaty āyata-kānta-netrā

mayā = I; vihīnā = left; vijane = in the lonely; vane = forest; = her; rakṣobhiḥ = by the rākṣasas; āhṛtya = while being carried away; vikṛṣyamāṇā = and dragged; nūnam vinādam = a loud cry; kurarī = a krauñca female; iva = like; dīnā = in distress; = she; muktavatī = would have let out; āyata-kānta-netrā = while fixing her wide eyes on her beloved.

I left her in the lonely forest. While being carried away and dragged by the rākṣasas, she would have let out a loud cry, like a krauñca female in distress, while fixing her wide eyes on her beloved.1

Āyata-kānta-netrā indicates that her eyes would have eagerly looked at the pathway through which Lord Rāma would return [to the āśrama].

Lord Rāma then went to a place by the Godāvarī where He had formerly enjoyed water sports with Sītā-devī in the past. Upon seeing that place, He remembered [an event] from the past and told Lakṣmaṇa about it in the next verse.


1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: vinādaṁ muktavatī.