← 2.18.39 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 18: Resistance or obedience
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.18.40
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.
2.18.40
prasādayan naravṛṣabhaḥ sa mātaraṃ parākramāj jigamiṣur eva daṇḍakān
athānujaṃ bhṛśam anuśāsya darśanaṃ cakāra tāṃ hṛdi jananīṃ pradakṣiṇam
That bull among men, propitiating his mother while resolved by his own resolve to set out for the Daṇḍaka forest, then, having earnestly instructed his younger brother, fixed the sight of his mother in his heart and reverently circled her.
Words: prasādayan — propitiating, conciliating; naravṛṣabhaḥ — the bull among men; sa — he; mātaraṃ — his mother; parākramāj — through his resolve, valour; jigamiṣur — desiring to go; eva — indeed; daṇḍakān — to the Daṇḍaka forests; athānujaṃ — then his younger brother; bhṛśam — earnestly, greatly; anuśāsya — having instructed, admonished; darśanaṃ — the sight, seeing; cakāra — made, fixed; tāṃ — her; hṛdi — in the heart; jananīṃ — his mother; pradakṣiṇam — circumambulation to the right
Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.