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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.18.28
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
2.18.28
asmākaṃ ca kule pūrvaṃ sagarasyājñayā pituḥ
khanadbhiḥ sāgarair bhūtim avāptaḥ sumahān vadhaḥ
And in our own line long ago, at the command of their father Sagara, the sons of Sagara, digging for treasure, met a very great destruction.
Words: asmākaṃ — our; ca — and; kule — in the line, family; pūrvaṃ — formerly, long ago; sagarasyājñayā — by the command of Sagara; pituḥ — of the father; khanadbhiḥ — by (those) digging; sāgarair — by the sons of Sagara; bhūtim — treasure, wealth; avāptaḥ — was obtained, incurred; sumahān — very great; vadhaḥ — destruction, slaughter
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.