← 2.41.17 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 41: Rāma leaves the sleeping citizens · 2.41.19 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.41.18

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 41: Rāma leaves the sleeping citizens. Sumantra lays misleading tracks, Rāma crosses the Tamasā with Sītā & Lakṣmaṇa before the followers wake

In the sequence: seeing the exhausted citizens asleep under trees, Rāma decides they should leave before the followers wake: affection for him should not force them into further hardship

2.41.18

yathaite niyamaṃ paurāḥ kurvanty asmannivartane
api prāṇān asiṣyanti na tu tyakṣyanti niścayam

Seeing how these townsfolk make it their vow to turn us back, they would sooner cast off their very lives than abandon their resolve.

Words: yathaite — how these; niyamaṃ — vow, resolve; paurāḥ — the townsfolk; kurvanty — make; asmannivartane — for our turning back; api — even; prāṇān — their lives, breaths; asiṣyanti — they will cast off; na — not; tu — but; tyakṣyanti — they will abandon; niścayam — the resolve

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.