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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.38.18

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 says she cannot endure life without him.

2.38.18

na hi tāvad guṇair juṣṭaṃ sarvaśāstraviśāradam
ekaputrā vinā putram ahaṃ jīvitum utsahe

For, having but one son, I cannot bear to live without that son, endowed with every virtue and skilled in all the scriptures.

Words: na hi — for not; tāvad — so, at all; guṇair — with virtues; juṣṭaṃ — endowed, furnished; sarvaśāstraviśāradam — skilled in all the sciences; ekaputrā — having a single son; vinā — without; putram — son; ahaṃ — I; jīvitum — to live; utsahe — am able, have strength

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.