‘I shall reward my eyes,’ he thought, ‘with the sight of my best-beloved and be happy. I shall be devoted to the feet of the gracious Lord, together with Sita and Lakshmana. Hari, the ocean of bliss, whose very wrath confers moksha (liberation) and who, though free, gives himself up entirely to the will of his devotees, will with his own hands fit an arrow to his bow and slay me!

As he runs after me to seize me, bearing his bow and arrows, I shall turn round again and again and look upon the Lord! There is none else so blessed as I.’

When Ravana drew near to the forest, Maricha, helped by his illusive power, assumed the false form of a deer, so marvellous as to defy description, with a body of gold artistically studded with gems.

When Sita glimpsed the exquisitely ravishing deer, most lovely in every limb, she said, ‘Listen, Raghubira, my gracious Lord; this deer has a most charming skin.

Pray slay this animal, O Lord, ever as good as your word, and get me its hide. Raghunatha knew all the circumstances (that had led Maricha to assume the semblance of a golden deer) and gladly rose to accomplish the purpose of the gods.

Having marked the deer, the girded up his loins with a piece of cloth, took the bow in his hand and fitted to it a shining shaft. The Lord cautioned Lakshmana: ‘A host of demons, brother, roam the woods.

‘Take care of Sita, using thought and judgement and with due regard to your own strength and the needs of the hour!’ The deer, seeing the Lord, took to flight, but Rama pursued it with ready bow.