Ravana's Revenge and the Enchanted Deer

After learning about the deaths of her cousins Khara and Dushana, Shurpanakha went to Lanka to confront her eldest brother, Ravana—the mighty king of Lanka. Ravana had extraordinary abilities, such as the power to dry up oceans, move mountains, and even defeat gods in battle. He had previously defeated his half-brother, Kubera, at Mount Kailash and taken Kuber's Pushpak Vimana, an airplane capable of traveling anywhere on the earth. 

"Who has done this to you, Shurpanakha?" thundered Ravana, seeing his sister's mutilated face.

"You probably don't know that a man called Rama has annihilated your powerful cousins Khara and Dushana, along with their entire army at Janasthana," she replied. "His brother, Lakshmana, is the one who cut off my nose and ears."

Ravana remembered Rama and Lakshmana from Sita's swayamvara. Shurpanakha told her brother that Rama was invincible on the battlefield. However, she also mentioned that Rama loved his wife Sita deeply, and being separated from her would devastate him. Shurpanakha described Sita as the most beautiful woman in the world and suggested that she deserved to be Ravana's wife. Consequently, she incited Ravana to kidnap Sita. 

Ravana approached the demon Maricha, who had been living the life of a saint, and sought his help to kidnap Sita. Maricha initially refused, telling Ravana that kidnapping Sita would taint his reputation and eventually destroy the demon clan. He also recalled his close shave with Rama at Vishwamitra's ashram. But Ravana threatened to kill Maricha if he didn't comply. Finally, Maricha relented, feeling it would be better to die at Rama's hands than at Ravana's. He devised a ruse to lure Rama and Lakshmana away from Sita.

Sita spotted a peculiar deer frolicking near the cottage. It had a golden body with horns adorned with gems and a face marked with black-and-white stripes. Its mouth resembled a pink lotus petal, while its neck and other parts were as beautiful as a blue lotus. One of its ears was blue, and the other was dark green. Its neck was delicate, its abdomen shone like the moon, and its feet gleamed like lapis lazuli. The golden deer captivated Sita, and she happily pointed it out to Rama and Lakshmana. 

"O Lord, please catch this deer for me," Sita pleaded to Rama. "All sorts of animals roam near our cottage, but I have never seen an animal like this. The entire region is sparkling because of its beauty."