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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.18.27
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: Rāma answers that he cannot disobey his father → he cites Kaṇḍu killing a cow at his father's command, Sagara's sons digging the earth and meeting destruction, and Paraśurāma striking down his mother with an axe on his father's orders → he presents their obedience as precedents for keeping his own father's word
2.18.27
ṛṣiṇā ca pitur vākyaṃ kurvatā vratacāriṇā
gaur hatā jānatā dharmaṃ kaṇḍunāpi vipaścitā
Even the sage Kaṇḍu, a vow-keeper and learned, who knew dharma, slew a cow in carrying out his father's word.
Words: ṛṣiṇā — by the sage; ca — and; pitur — of the father; vākyaṃ — word; kurvatā — doing, carrying out; vratacāriṇā — by the vow-keeper; gaur — a cow; hatā — was slain; jānatā — by (him) knowing; dharmaṃ — dharma; kaṇḍunāpi — even by Kaṇḍu; vipaścitā — by the learned, wise
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.