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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.17.26

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 says seventeen years have passed since his birth, spent hoping for an end to her sorrow

2.17.26

daśa sapta ca varṣāṇi tava jātasya rāghava
atītāni prakāṅkṣantyā mayā duḥkhaparikṣayam

Seventeen years have passed since your birth, O Rāghava, as I longed for an end to my sorrow.

Words: daśa — ten; sapta — seven; ca — and; varṣāṇi — years; tava — of you; jātasya — born (since you were born); rāghava — O Rāghava; atītāni — have passed; prakāṅkṣantyā — by (me) longing for; mayā — by me; duḥkhaparikṣayam — an end of sorrow

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.