Shloka 3.44.5
मारीचवधः — The Slaying of Maricha (Golden Deer Deception)
तं स्म पश्यति रूपेण द्योतमानमिवाग्रतः।।3.44.4।।अवेक्ष्यावेक्ष्य धावन्तं धनुष्पाणिर्महावने।अतिवृत्तमिषोः पाताल्लोभयानं कदाचन।।3.44.5।।शङ्कितन्तु समुद्भ्रान्तमुत्पतन्तमिवाम्बरे।दृश्यमानमदृश्यं च वनोद्देशेषु केषुचित्।।3.44.6।।छिन्नाभ्रैरिव संवीतं शारदं चन्द्रमण्डलम्।
tatra rāmaṃ bhayaṃ tīvram āviveśa viṣādajam |
rākṣasaṃ mṛgarūpaṃ taṃ hatvā śrutvā ca tat-svaram ||
Thereupon, after slaying that rākṣasa in the guise of a deer and hearing that very cry, an intense fear born of despair entered into Rāma.
Rama, wielder of the bow, saw that splendid animal ahead of him. Holding the bow he saw the deer running away, bewldered into the great forest looking at him again and again. The deer was getting out of the range of his arrow, while it enticed him now and then. Suspecting that he might be caught, the deer was, as though jumping into the sky. Now it came within sight and now out of sight in the huge forest. It looked like the autumnal moon surrounded by clouds. (The clouds muffle the Moon and reveal him now and then).
The verse shows the dharmic burden of protection: fear arises not from personal danger but from the possibility that one’s duty to safeguard loved ones has been compromised by deceit.
Rāma kills the deer-form demon and immediately hears the imitated cry, realizing Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa may be endangered.
Rāma’s deep sense of responsibility (rakṣaṇa-dharma), where emotional shock is tied to concern for others.