← 2.103.8 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 103: Bharata attempts a fast · 2.103.10 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.103.9

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 103: Bharata attempts a fast. He spreads grass and refuses to leave, then offers to serve the exile himself, Rāma rejects substitution and promises to rule after fourteen years

In the sequence: Rāma replies that he can never fully repay his parents' care and will not invalidate the command he accepted from his father

2.103.9

yan mātāpitarau vṛttaṃ tanaye kurutaḥ sadā
na supratikaraṃ tat tu mātrā pitrā ca yat kṛtam

The service that mother and father always render to a child — that which is done by mother and father is not easily repaid.

Words: yan — what; mātāpitarau — mother and father; vṛttaṃ — service, treatment; tanaye — for the child; kurutaḥ — the two do; sadā — always; na — not; supratikaraṃ — easily requited; tat — that; tu — indeed; mātrā — by the mother; pitrā — by the father; ca — and; yat — what; kṛtam — is done

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. 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.