batch.motif.hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg-l32642-l32762
---
record_id: batch.motif.hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg-l32642-l32762
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
passage_locator:
label: Canto XXV. The Battle. / Canto XXVIII. Khara Dismounted. / Canto XLIII. The
Wondrous Deer. / Canto XLVI. The Guest.; lines 32642-32762
start: '32642'
end: '32762'
translation: The Ramayan of Valmiki
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: Sítá, addressing a disguised stranger as a Brahman guest, recounts her
birth, marriage to Ráma, the interrupted consecration, Kaikeyí’s demand that Ráma
be exiled and Bharat consecrated, Ráma’s obedient acceptance, and Lakshmaṇ’s decision
to accompany and guard them in the forest. She offers hospitality and asks the
stranger’s identity. The stranger reveals himself as Rávaṇ, king of the Rákshases,
describes his power and island city Laṅkā, declares desire for Sítá, and offers
her queenship and attendants if she will be his.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A man in mendicant disguise questions Sítá, whom the narration calls his destined
prize.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Sítá identifies herself as the daughter of Janak, king of Videha, and as Ráma’s
cherished wife.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Sítá says she lived twelve happy years with Ráma in Raghu’s royal house before
preparations began to consecrate him as joint ruler.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Sítá reports that Queen Kaikeyí invoked an earlier claim and demanded Ráma’s
banishment and the consecration of her own son.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Kaikeyí threatens not to sleep, eat, drink, or rest, and to die that day if
Ráma is anointed king.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Ráma accepts exile without fear and says he will keep his father’s words true
rather than take the offered realm.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: Lakshmaṇ follows Ráma and Sítá, takes hermit garb, binds his hair, and carries
a bow to guard them.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: Sítá says they left kingdom and home because of Kaikeyí’s art and now dwell
under forest boughs in Daṇḍak forest.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: Sítá treats the stranger as an honored guest, invites him to rest and refresh
himself, and asks his name, race, birth, and reason for roaming alone.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: The stranger reveals that he is Rávaṇ, king of the Rákshases and lord of giant
legions.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:11
text: Rávaṇ says that seeing Sítá’s gold-like form has made his love for all his
other women dead and cold.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:12
text: Rávaṇ says his home contains a thousand fair women torn from many lands.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: obs:13
text: Rávaṇ describes Laṅkā as a glorious island city looking down from a mountain’s
forehead while the ocean beats against it.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: obs:14
text: Rávaṇ offers Sítá queenship over himself and his women, with five thousand
maids serving her if she will be his.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Sítá
description: Daughter of Janak, king of Videha; Ráma’s cherished wife; speaker who
recounts her life and questions the guest.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:9
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Ráma
description: Sítá’s lord; son of Daśaratha and the Ikshváku line; intended for consecration
but exiled to the forest; keeps his father’s word.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Rávaṇ
description: A disguised mendicant stranger who reveals himself as the Rákshas king
and lord of giant legions, desires Sítá, and describes Laṅkā.
role_refs:
- role:5
- role:6
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Kaikeyí
description: Queen who presses an earlier claim and demands Ráma’s exile and her
own child’s consecration.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Daśaratha
description: Aged king and Ráma’s father, described by Sítá as true but led by love
for Kaikeyí to withhold the consecrating rites.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Lakshmaṇ
description: Ráma’s younger brother, who follows Ráma, adopts ascetic garb, and
guards the party with his bow.
role_refs:
- role:10
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Janak
description: King of Videha and Sítá’s noble father.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Bharat
description: Kaikeyí’s child, to whom she asks that the ancient land be given instead
of Ráma.
role_refs:
- role:13
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Women in Rávaṇ’s home
description: A thousand fair women said by Rávaṇ to have been torn from many lands
and kept in his home.
role_refs:
- role:14
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Five thousand maids
description: A glittering band of maids whom Rávaṇ says would serve Sítá if she
became his.
role_refs:
- role:15
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
roles:
- id: role:1
label: wife and self-narrating host
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Sítá identifies herself as Ráma’s wife, speaks her own history, and offers
hospitality to the stranger.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:9
- id: role:2
label: desired woman
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Rávaṇ declares desire for Sítá and invites her to become his queen.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:14
- id: role:3
label: exiled royal heir
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Ráma is selected for consecration but sent to the woods in place of receiving
the realm.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: vow-keeper
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Ráma accepts the command and says he will keep his father’s words true.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:5
label: disguised questioner
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The passage begins with him in mendicant disguise questioning Sítá.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:6
label: Rákshas king
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: He identifies himself as Rávaṇ, king of the Rákshases and lord of giant legions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:7
label: tempting suitor
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: He praises Sítá’s form, offers queenship, and promises attendants if she
will be his.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:14
- id: role:8
label: succession claimant through boons
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Kaikeyí presses an old claim to demand Ráma’s exile and her child’s consecration.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:9
label: bound king and father
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Daśaratha is Ráma’s father and is represented as bound to preserve truth
in the promised command.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:10
label: loyal younger brother
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Lakshmaṇ insists on following Ráma on his way.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:11
label: armed forest guardian
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Lakshmaṇ takes hermit garb and carries his bow to guard Ráma and Sítá.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:12
label: royal father
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Sítá names Janak, king of Videha, as her father.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:13
label: alternative heir
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Kaikeyí asks that her child receive consecration and the ancient land instead
of Ráma.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:14
label: captured women
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: Rávaṇ says the women in his home were torn from many lands.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: role:15
label: promised attendants
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: Rávaṇ says five thousand maids would stand around Sítá and serve her.
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: mendicant disguise
literal_form: A mendicant’s disguise worn by the stranger when questioning Sítá.
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: guest status
literal_form: Sítá’s treatment of the stranger as a guest whose needs must be answered
and honored.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
- id: sym:3
label: forest exile
literal_form: Daṇḍak forest and pathless, dark regions where Ráma, Sítá, and Lakshmaṇ
dwell under forest boughs.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: sym:4
label: hermit garb and coiled hair
literal_form: Lakshmaṇ’s twisted hair and clothing of hermits adopted on the journey.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:5
label: bow as protection
literal_form: Lakshmaṇ’s bow used to guard the exiled party.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:6
label: mountain island city
literal_form: Laṅkā looking from a mountain’s forehead on an island home.
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: sym:7
label: ocean around Laṅkā
literal_form: Ocean with flash and foam beating against Rávaṇ’s island home.
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: sym:8
label: promised female retinue
literal_form: Five thousand maids offered as attendants to Sítá.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Disguised guest questions Sítá
summary: A stranger in mendicant disguise questions Sítá; she regards him as a guest
and prepares to reply.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Sítá recounts royal identity and exile
summary: Sítá identifies her parentage and marriage, narrates Ráma’s intended consecration,
Kaikeyí’s demand, Ráma’s acceptance of exile, and Lakshmaṇ’s decision to accompany
them.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:3
label: Hospitality and request for identity
summary: Sítá invites the stranger to rest and be refreshed, saying Ráma will return
with forest food, then asks him to declare his identity and reason for roaming
alone.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: scene:4
label: Rávaṇ reveals himself and tempts Sítá
summary: The stranger identifies himself as Rávaṇ, declares desire for Sítá, describes
Laṅkā, and offers her queenship and attendants if she will be his.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Disguised stranger violates guest trust
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
basis: Rávaṇ approaches in mendicant disguise, receives Sítá’s guestly attention,
and then reveals himself while making a sexual and royal offer.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:14
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage shows disguise and boundary crossing, but it does not explicitly
label Rávaṇ as a trickster.
- id: motif:2
label: Threatened stolen beloved
taxonomy_refs:
- stolen_beloved
basis: The narrator calls Sítá the disguised stranger’s destined prize; Rávaṇ desires
her, already claims women torn from many lands, and asks her to be his.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:14
confidence: medium
cautions: This line range contains the threat and courtship offer, not the actual
seizure of Sítá.
- id: motif:3
label: Royal succession displaced by exile
taxonomy_refs:
- royal_legitimacy
- departure
basis: Ráma’s consecration is interrupted when Kaikeyí demands Bharat’s consecration
and Ráma’s forest exile, which Ráma accepts to preserve his father’s word.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is Sítá’s retrospective account rather than the original scene
of the succession crisis.
- id: motif:4
label: Companion follows hero into forest exile
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
basis: Lakshmaṇ accompanies Ráma and Sítá into the forest, takes hermit garb, and
carries a bow to guard them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The available taxonomy does not include a specific loyal-companion motif;
departure is the closest supported family.
- id: motif:5
label: Disguise as ascetic or holy person
taxonomy_refs:
- shapeshifter
basis: Rávaṇ first appears in mendicant disguise and is perceived by Sítá as a saintly
Brahman guest before revealing his Rákshas identity.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: low
cautions: The passage says disguise, not bodily transformation; the shapeshifter
taxonomy ref is only approximate.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage supports comparison to a broader pattern in which a dangerous
outsider crosses a hospitality boundary by appearing as a holy or harmless guest.
claim_level: same_function
target: trickster_boundary motif family
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:14
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The comparison is functional only; the passage does not provide external
parallels or historical links.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage supports comparison to stolen-beloved narratives at the level
of threatened possession of a married woman by a powerful ruler.
claim_level: same_motif
target: stolen_beloved motif family
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:14
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The actual abduction is outside the supplied passage; this extraction
relies on anticipation and Rávaṇ’s own statements.
- id: claim:3
claim: The passage supports comparison to departure narratives in which a royal
figure leaves court for the wilderness because of a succession crisis.
claim_level: same_function
target: departure and royal_legitimacy motif families
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The claim is limited to motif function within the passage and does
not imply historical contact with other traditions.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: 32642-32647
quote_or_summary: "“As, clad in mendicant’s disguise, / He questioned thus his destined
prize,” and Sítá sees him as a seeming saintly man."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: 32648-32652
quote_or_summary: Sítá says she springs from Janak, king of Videha, and names herself
“Ráma’s cherished dame.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 32653-32662
quote_or_summary: Sítá says she spent twelve happy years with Ráma in Raghu’s home
before his peers advised consecrating him joint ruler.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 32663-32670
quote_or_summary: 'Kaikeyí invokes an old claim and presses a double request: Ráma’s
banishment to the wild and her child’s consecration.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: 32671-32680
quote_or_summary: Kaikeyí says she will not sleep, eat, drink, or rest and will
die that day if Ráma is anointed king; Daśaratha pleads with her.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 32693-32712
quote_or_summary: Kaikeyí tells Ráma that Bharat receives the land and Ráma must
dwell in the woods; Ráma accepts and says he will keep the king’s words true.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 32713-32724
quote_or_summary: Lakshmaṇ, Ráma’s younger brother, follows him, adopts ascetic
hair and hermit garb, and goes with bow to guard Ráma and Sítá.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: quote
locator: 32725-32730
quote_or_summary: "“The kingdom and our home we left” and sought the “shade of forest
boughs” in “pathless regions dark and dread.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 32731-32743
quote_or_summary: Sítá invites the Brahman stranger to rest as an honored guest,
says Ráma will return with woodland food, and asks the stranger’s name, race,
birth, and purpose in Daṇḍak forest.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: quote
locator: 32744-32750
quote_or_summary: The stranger answers that he is “Rávaṇ the Rákshas king,” lord
of giant legions and feared by celestial armies.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: 32751-32754
quote_or_summary: Rávaṇ says Sítá’s gold-like form and amber silks have made his
love for all his other women dead and cold.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source summarized.
- id: ev:12
type: quote
locator: 32755-32756
quote_or_summary: "“A thousand fairest women, torn / From many a land my home adorn.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: 32759-32762
quote_or_summary: Rávaṇ describes Laṅkā as a glorious town on a mountain above an
ocean-beaten island home.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source summarized.
- id: ev:14
type: summary
locator: 32757-32762 and following supplied lines
quote_or_summary: Rávaṇ invites Sítá to be queen of him and all his women and promises
five thousand maids to serve her if she will be his.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal extraction is strong from the supplied passage. Some motif taxonomy
assignments are approximate because the available taxonomy is broad and this passage
stops before any abduction action.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Used only the supplied passage and metadata. Taxonomy references limited to the supplied motif families and symbols.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg__l32642-l32762
passage_sha256=6cac03988a046f8fee121bd94e046f26dbc0950edaf6044c6e1344c1bfbc3812