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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.24.14
Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 24: Sītā claims a share in the exile. She insists that a wife shares her husband’s fate and chooses forest hardship with Rāma over comfort without him
In the sequence: she says even heaven would not please her without him
2.24.14
haṃsakāraṇḍavākīrṇāḥ padminīḥ sādhupuṣpitāḥ
iccheyaṃ sukhinī draṣṭuṃ tvayā vīreṇa saṃgatā
Happy and in company with you, my hero, I would wish to see the lotus-ponds strewn with swans and kāraṇḍava-ducks, in fair bloom.
Words: haṃsakāraṇḍavākīrṇāḥ — strewn with swans and kāraṇḍava-ducks; padminīḥ — the lotus-ponds; sādhupuṣpitāḥ — in fair bloom; iccheyaṃ — I would wish; sukhinī — happy; draṣṭuṃ — to see; tvayā vīreṇa — with you, the hero; saṃgatā — joined, in company
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.