← 2.38.6 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 38: Kausalyā imagines Rāma’s return · 2.38.8 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.38.7

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 worries about the young travelers, raised in comfort and sent into hardship just when Rāma was about to receive the Kingdom

2.38.7

vane tv adṛṣṭaduḥkhānāṃ kaikeyyānumate tvayā
tyaktānāṃ vanavāsāya kā nv avasthā bhaviṣyati

For those who have never known sorrow, cast out by you at Kaikeyī's bidding to dwell in the forest — what state, pray, will befall them there?

Words: vane — in the forest; tv — but; adṛṣṭaduḥkhānāṃ — of those who have never seen sorrow; kaikeyyānumate — by the consent of Kaikeyī; tvayā — by you; tyaktānāṃ — of the abandoned ones; vanavāsāya — for dwelling in the forest; kā — what; nv — pray, indeed; avasthā — condition, state; bhaviṣyati — will be, will befall

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.