← 2.42.23 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 42: The citizens return to Ayodhyā without Rāma · 2.42.25 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.42.24

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 42: The citizens return to Ayodhyā without Rāma. Families reproach the men for returning without Rāma and imagine abandoning Kaikeyī’s Kingdom to join him

In the sequence: they fear life under Kaikeyī and doubt Daśaratha will survive the separation

2.42.24

mithyā pravrājito rāmaḥ sabhāryaḥ sahalakṣmaṇaḥ
bharate saṃniṣṛṣṭāḥ smaḥ saunike paśavo yathā

Wrongfully has Rāma been banished, with his wife and with Lakṣmaṇa; we have been handed over to Bharata like beasts to a butcher.

Words: mithyā — falsely, wrongfully; pravrājito — banished; rāmaḥ — Rāma; sabhāryaḥ — with his wife; sahalakṣmaṇaḥ — with Lakṣmaṇa; bharate — to Bharata; saṃniṣṛṣṭāḥ — handed over, entrusted; smaḥ — we are; saunike — to a butcher; paśavo — beasts, cattle; yathā — as, like

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.