← 2.37.13 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 37: Daśaratha loses sight of Rāma and rejects Kaikeyī · 2.37.15 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.37.14

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 37: Daśaratha loses sight of Rāma and rejects Kaikeyī. The chariot’s dust disappears, Daśaratha falls, rejects Kaikeyī’s touch and returns to Kausalyā as his sight fails

In the sequence: seeing the hoofprints but no longer his son, he imagines Rāma sleeping on the ground beneath a tree

2.37.14

vāhanānāṃ ca mukhyānāṃ vahatāṃ taṃ mamātmajam
padāni pathi dṛśyante sa mahātmā na dṛśyate

The hoofprints of the finest steeds that bore that son of mine are seen upon the road, but that great one is seen no more.

Words: vāhanānāṃ — of the draught-animals, steeds; ca — and; mukhyānāṃ — of the foremost, finest; vahatāṃ — carrying, bearing; taṃ — that; mamātmajam — my son; padāni — footprints, tracks; pathi — on the road; dṛśyante — are seen; sa — that; mahātmā — great-souled one; na dṛśyate — is not seen

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.