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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.17.22

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 17: Kausalyā learns of Rāma’s exile. Rāma tells Kausalyā that Bharata will inherit and he must leave, she collapses and laments their separation

In the sequence: she explains that she had endured neglect as a wife by hoping for happiness through her son, but now fears humiliation and isolation among her co-wives

2.17.22

na dṛṣṭapūrvaṃ kalyāṇaṃ sukhaṃ vā patipauruṣe
api putre vipaśyeyam iti rāmāsthitaṃ mayā

I had never before seen any welfare or happiness in my husband's manly power; 'yet in my son I might see it' — so, O Rāma, I had trusted.

Words: na — not; dṛṣṭapūrvaṃ — seen before; kalyāṇaṃ — welfare; sukhaṃ — happiness; vā — or; patipauruṣe — in (my) husband's manly power; api — even, yet; putre — in (my) son; vipaśyeyam — I might see; iti — thus; rāmāsthitaṃ — O Rāma, (this hope) was held; mayā — by me

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.