← 2.27.17 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 27: Rāma agrees that Sītā will accompany him · 2.27.19 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.27.18

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 27: Rāma agrees that Sītā will accompany him. Sītā rejects separation despite every hardship, Rāma agrees to take her and asks her to distribute their possessions

In the sequence: unable to imagine enduring fourteen years apart, she again threatens death, embraces him, and breaks down

2.27.18

atha mām evam avyagrāṃ vanaṃ naiva nayiṣyasi
viṣam adyaiva pāsyāmi mā viśaṃ dviṣatāṃ vaśam

But if you will not lead me, resolved as I am, to the forest, then this very day I shall drink poison—lest I fall into the power of those who hate me.

Words: atha — but if; mām — me; evam — thus; avyagrāṃ — unwavering, resolute; vanaṃ — to the forest; naiva — not at all; nayiṣyasi — you will lead; viṣam — poison; adyaiva — this very day; pāsyāmi — I shall drink; mā — not, lest; viśaṃ — (let me not) fall into; dviṣatāṃ — of enemies, of those who hate; vaśam — into the power

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.