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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.20.20

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 20: Lakṣmaṇa opposes fate with effort. He offers to overcome every obstacle by force, Rāma wipes away his tears but remains bound to the promise

In the sequence: he says Rāma should retire to the forest only after ruling and entrusting the Kingdom to his own sons

2.20.20

ūrdhvaṃ varṣasahasrānte prajāpālyam anantaram
āryaputrāḥ kariṣyanti vanavāsaṃ gate tvayi

After a thousand years and more, the guardianship of the people [duly passed on], your noble sons shall in their turn take up the forest-dwelling, once you yourself have gone.

Words: ūrdhvaṃ — above, afterward, beyond; varṣasahasrānte — at the end of a thousand years; prajāpālyam — the guardianship of subjects; anantaram — thereafter, next; āryaputrāḥ — noble sons; kariṣyanti — will undertake, make; vanavāsaṃ — forest-dwelling; gate — having gone; tvayi — when you

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.