Shloka 3.57.20
मारीचवधोत्तरं रामस्य शङ्का-निमित्त-दर्शनं लक्ष्मण-निग्रहश्च (After Maricha’s Slaying: Omens, Anxiety, and Rama’s Rebuke of Lakshmana)
न मेऽस्ति संशयो वीर सर्वथा जनकात्मजा।।3.57.19।।विनष्टा भक्षिता वापि राक्षसैर्वनचारिभिः।अशुभान्येव भूयिष्ठं यथा प्रादुर्भवन्ति मे।।3.57.20।।
na me ’sti saṃśayo vīra sarvathā janakātmajā |
vinaṣṭā bhakṣitā vāpi rākṣasair vanacāribhiḥ |
aśubhāny eva bhūyiṣṭhaṃ yathā prādurbhavanti me ||
O hero, I have no doubt at all: Janaka’s daughter has surely met disaster—either lost or even devoured by the forest-ranging rākṣasas. For inauspicious signs keep rising before me in abundance.
O heroic Lakshmana I see many inauspicious omens. I think Sita might have been lost or eaten away by the demons of the forest. There is no doubt about it.
Dharma under crisis: when danger is suspected, one must respond with urgency and truthful assessment, not denial—protective action follows clear recognition.
Seeing omens and Sītā’s absence, Rāma voices a grim suspicion that rākṣasas have harmed or taken her.
Rāma’s truth-orientation (satya-bhāva) even when painful—he confronts the worst possibility to drive decisive action.