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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.38.17

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 38: Kausalyā imagines Rāma’s return. Fearing Kaikeyī and the hardships facing Rāma, Sītā & Lakṣmaṇa, she longs for her son’s homecoming and embrace

In the sequence: she longs for Rāma to approach and embrace her as he did when he was a child → she wonders whether separation from her son repays some past cruelty of her own

2.38.17

sāhaṃ gaur iva siṃhena vivatsā vatsalā kṛtā
kaikeyyā puruṣavyāghra bālavatseva gaur balāt

So I, O tiger among men, loving as I am, have been robbed of my calf by Kaikeyī, like a cow by a lion, like a cow forcibly bereft of her young calf.

Words: sāhaṃ — that I, so I; gaur — a cow; iva — like, as; siṃhena — by a lion; vivatsā — bereft of her calf; vatsalā — loving, affectionate (toward offspring); kṛtā — made; kaikeyyā — by Kaikeyī; puruṣavyāghra — O tiger among men; bālavatseva — like (a cow) with a young calf; gaur — a cow; balāt — by force

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.