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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.18.29
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
2.18.29
jāmadagnyena rāmeṇa reṇukā jananī svayam
kṛttā paraśunāraṇye pitur vacanakāriṇā
Rāma the son of Jamadagni, doing his father's word, himself cut down his mother Reṇukā with an axe in the forest.
Words: jāmadagnyena — by the son of Jamadagni; rāmeṇa — by Rāma; reṇukā — Reṇukā; jananī — the mother; svayam — himself, in person; kṛttā — was cut down, severed; paraśunāraṇye — with an axe in the forest; pitur — of the father; vacanakāriṇā — by (him) doing the word
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.