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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.16.12
Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 16: Rāma accepts fourteen years of exile. Kaikeyī explains the boons, Rāma agrees, asks for Bharata’s return and leaves to speak to Kausalyā & Sītā
In the sequence: alarmed by this unfamiliar silence, Rāma asks whether he has offended him, whether he is ill, or whether something has happened to the family
2.16.12
vivarṇavadano dīno na hi mām abhibhāṣate
śārīro mānaso vāpi kaccid enaṃ na bādhate
saṃtāpo vābhitāpo vā durlabhaṃ hi sadā sukham
“With face discoloured and dejected, he does not speak to me. I hope no affliction, of body or of mind—no torment, no fever—distresses him, for happiness is ever hard to keep.”
Words: vivarṇavadano — with discoloured face; dīno — dejected; na — not; hi — indeed; mām — to me; abhibhāṣate — speaks; śārīro — bodily; mānaso — mental; vāpi — or; kaccid — I hope (not); enaṃ — him; na — not; bādhate — afflicts, distresses; saṃtāpo — torment, anguish; vābhitāpo — or fever, burning; vā — or; durlabhaṃ — hard to obtain, hard to keep; hi — for; sadā — always; sukham — happiness
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.