Maricha frightened and saddened at Ravana's nonchalance towards his plight said, "None, who had opposed Rama are alive today, the moment Rama draws his weapon I will be dead! But now I will go at your bidding. May you prosper! " Ravana was delighted, embracing his friend he said, "Now you are yourself, the real Maricha!" Ravana and Maricha sped towards the hermitage of Rama. They went past cities, groves, mountains and rivers, to reach Dandaka. There they beheld the holy spot, where Rama lived. Ravana helped Maricha out of the chariot saying, "This must be the hermitage of Rama, let us embark on our mission". Maricha quietly transformed himself into a deer. The transformation was stunning and there stood Maricha in the form of the most magnificent deer ever to tread the earth! A matchless creation, its antlers were studded with sapphires and its golden body was dappled with luminous spots of silver. Slender and full of grace, its ears and mouth had the sheen of glowing sapphires, and the belly was white as a conch shell. The bright tuft of its flicking tail, rivaled with the colors of the rainbow. Sometimes merging with the flocks that wandered around in the vicinity and at times moving away from them, the gentle creature pranced in the forest glades. It strayed closer to the hermitage nibbling at little blades of grass, as its brilliant tongue flicked in and out. It was then that Sita came out to gather flowers and saw the deer. Startled and in wide-eyed wonder she gazed raptly at a vision, so breathtaking in its dazzling splendor! The deer Maricha saw Rama's consort whose radiance illumined the entire forest. The princess of Ayodhya stood still watching the deer with its ethereal beauty, its dainty gait and its timid movements.