त्रस्ताया रमकाङ्क्षिण्याः प्रधावन्त्या इतस्ततः।
राक्षसेनानुवृत्ताया मैथिल्याश्च पदान्यथ॥
trastāyā rama-kāṅkṣiṇyāḥ pradhāvantyā itas tataḥ
rākṣasenānuvṛttāyā maithilyāś ca padāny atha
trastāyāḥ = who had been terrified of Rāvaṇa; rama-kāṅkṣiṇyāḥ = while she hankered for Rāma; pradhāvantyāḥ = and so she had run; itaḥ = here; tataḥ = and there; rākṣasena = the rākṣasa; anuvṛttāyāḥ = had followed her; maithilyāḥ = of Maithilī; ca = and; padāni atha = there were the footprints.
And there were the footprints of Maithilī who had been terrified of Rāvaṇa while she hankered for Rāma. The rākṣasa had followed her and so she had run here and there.1
1 When Jaṭāyu attacked Rāvaṇa, the latter released Sītā-devī to fight with the former and kill him. When she tried to run away from Rāvaṇa back to Lord Rāma’s āśrama, Rāvaṇa followed her. Lord Rāma, behaving like a human being, will pretend to not understand the events that had transpired.
Maithilī hankered for Rāma, that is, she endeavored to go to Rāmacandra’s āśrama.