Ramayana — Sundara Kanda, Sarga 15, Shloka 29
अशोकवनिकायां सीतादर्शनम्
Sita Seen in the Ashoka Grove
पूर्णचन्द्राननां सुभ्रूं चारुवृत्तपयोधराम्।।5.15.28।।कुर्वतीं प्रभयादेवीं सर्वा वितिमिरा दिशः।तां नीलकेशीं बिम्बोष्ठीं सुमध्यां सुप्रतिष्ठिताम्।।5.15.29।।सीतां पद्मपलाशाक्षीं मन्मथस्य रतिं यथा।
pūrṇacandrānanāṃ subhrūṃ cāruvṛttapayodharām |
kurvatīṃ prabhayā devīṃ sarvā vitimirā diśaḥ |
tāṃ nīlakeśīṃ bimboṣṭhīṃ sumadhyāṃ supratiṣṭhitām |
sītāṃ padmapalāśākṣīṃ manmathasya ratiṃ yathā ||
This verse is transmitted in this source as a continuation/duplicate segmentation of the preceding description: Sītā is portrayed as moon-faced and radiant, with dark hair, red bimba-like lips, a slender waist, lotus-petal eyes, and a beauty likened to Rati of Manmatha.
Her face resembled the fullmoon which dispelled the encircling gloom by its radiance. She had a slender waist, beautiful round breasts, shapely eyebrows, red lips, dark hair, and eyes like lotus petals with attractive limbs. She was comparable to Rati, consort of Cupid.
FAQs
As a repeated/segmented descriptive unit, it reinforces the theme that virtue and truth confer an enduring dignity that adversity cannot erase.
The manuscript tradition represented here preserves the descriptive passage across verse indices, continuing the identification-by-description of Sītā.
Sītā’s auspicious presence and moral beauty, recalled as part of Hanumān’s confirmation.