The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 3.263.22

3.263.22

tato dṛṣṭvāśramapadaṃ vyapaviddhabṛsīghaṭam |
vidhvastakalaśaṃ śūnyaṃ gomāyubalasevitam || 22 ||

The mighty vulture, however, addressing them both, said, 'Blessed be ye, I am the king of the vultures, and friend of Dasaratha!' Hearing these words of his, both Rama and his brother put aside their excellent bow and said, 'Who is this one that speaketh the name of our father in these woods?' And then they saw that creature to be a bird destitute of two wings, and that bird then told them of his own overthrow at the hands of Ravana for the sake of Sita. Then Rama enquired of the vulture as to the way Ravana had taken. The vulture answered him by a nod of his head and then breathed his last. And having understood from the sign the vulture had made that Ravana had gone towards the south, Rama reverencing his father's friend, caused his funeral obsequies to be duly performed. Then those chastisers of foes, Rama and Lakshmana, filled with grief at the abduction of the princess of Videha, took a southern path through the Dandaka woods beholding along their way many uninhabited asylums of ascetics, scattered over with seats of Kusa grass and umbrellas of leaves and broken water-pots, and abounding with hundreds of jackals. And in that great forest, Rama along with Sumatra's son beheld many herds of deer running in all directions. And they heard a loud uproar of various creatures like what is heard during a fast spreading forest conflagration. And soon they beheld a headless Rakshasa of terrible mien.