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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.100.7

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 100: Jābāli challenges the exile. He questions permanent family ties, offerings to the dead and belief in the unseen, urging Rāma to accept the available Kingdom

In the sequence: he urges Rāma to return to the prosperous city waiting for him

2.100.7

pitryaṃ rājyaṃ samutsṛjya sa nārhati narottama
āsthātuṃ kāpathaṃ duḥkhaṃ viṣamaṃ bahukaṇṭakam

You ought not, O best of men, to give up the ancestral kingdom and set foot on an evil road, painful, rough, and beset with thorns.

Words: pitryaṃ rājyaṃ — the paternal kingdom; samutsṛjya — abandoning, giving up; sa — he, that one (you); nārhati — ought not; narottama — O best of men; āsthātuṃ — to tread, take up; kāpathaṃ — an evil road; duḥkhaṃ — painful; viṣamaṃ — rough, difficult; bahukaṇṭakam — full of thorns

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.