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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.18.39

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: he asks his mother's permission and blessing, promising to return after completing the exile.

2.18.39

yaśo hy ahaṃ kevalarājyakāraṇān na pṛṣṭhataḥ kartum alaṃ mahodayam
adīrghakāle na tu devi jīvite vṛṇe 'varām adya mahīm adharmataḥ

For I am not able, merely for the sake of a kingdom, to cast behind me a glory of great fruit; and since life, O queen, is short, I would not choose today a lowly earth won by unrighteousness.

Words: yaśo — glory, fame; hy — for; ahaṃ — I; kevalarājyakāraṇān — merely for the sake of a kingdom; na — not; pṛṣṭhataḥ — behind, at the back; kartum — to place, make; alaṃ — able, capable; mahodayam — of great fruit, prosperity; adīrghakāle — short in duration; na — not; tu — but; devi — O queen; jīvite — life being; vṛṇe — I choose; 'varām — a lowly, inferior; adya — today; mahīm — the earth; adharmataḥ — through unrighteousness

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.