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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.18.23

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 18: Resistance or obedience. Lakṣmaṇa offers force and Kausalyā asks Rāma to stay, Rāma cites ancestral precedents and upholds his father’s word

In the sequence: Kausalyā asks Rāma to stay and fulfill his duty to her instead; she threatens to fast to death if he leaves

2.18.23

yadi tvaṃ yāsyasi vanaṃ tyaktvā māṃ śokalālasām
ahaṃ prāyam ihāsiṣye na hi śakṣyāmi jīvitum

If you shall go to the forest, abandoning me who languish in grief, I shall sit here fasting unto death, for I shall not be able to live.

Words: yadi — if; tvaṃ — you; yāsyasi — will go; vanaṃ — to the forest; tyaktvā — having abandoned; māṃ — me; śokalālasām — languishing in grief; ahaṃ — I; prāyam — fasting to death; ihāsiṣye — shall sit here; na — not; hi — for; śakṣyāmi — I shall be able; jīvitum — to live

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.