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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.27.19

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

2.27.19

paścād api hi duḥkhena mama naivāsti jīvitam
ujjhitāyās tvayā nātha tadaiva maraṇaṃ varam

Even afterward there would be no life for me in such sorrow; if I am forsaken by you, O lord, better then at once is death.

Words: paścād — afterward, later; api — even; hi — indeed; duḥkhena — in sorrow; mama — for me; naivāsti — there is not at all; jīvitam — life; ujjhitāyās — for (me) abandoned; tvayā — by you; nātha — O lord; tadaiva — then indeed; maraṇaṃ — death; varam — better

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.