← 2.24.16 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 24: Sītā claims a share in the exile · 2.24.18 →
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.24.17
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 declares that she is prepared to die rather than be separated from him → Rāma remains reluctant and begins explaining the dangers of forest life.
2.24.17
ahaṃ gamiṣyāmi vanaṃ sudurgamaṃ mṛgāyutaṃ vānaravāraṇair yutam
mṛgāyutaṃ vānaravāraṇair yutam
vane nivatsyāmi yathā pitur gṛhe tavaiva pādāv upagṛhya saṃmatā
tavaiva pādāv upagṛhya saṃmatā
I shall go to the forest so hard to traverse, full of deer and thronged with monkeys and elephants; I shall dwell in the forest as in my father's house, clasping your very feet, devoted to you alone.
Words: ahaṃ gamiṣyāmi — I shall go; vanaṃ — to the forest; sudurgamaṃ — very hard to traverse; mṛgāyutaṃ — full of deer; vānaravāraṇair yutam — thronged with monkeys and elephants; vane nivatsyāmi — I shall dwell in the forest; yathā pitur gṛhe — as in my father's house; tavaiva pādāv — your very feet; upagṛhya — having clasped; saṃmatā — devoted, agreeable
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.