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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.47.9

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 47: Rāma grieves and asks Lakṣmaṇa to return. Rāma fears for his parents and asks Lakṣmaṇa to return, Lakṣmaṇa refuses to leave him and steadies his resolve

In the sequence: he imagines Daśaratha grieving while Kaikeyī is satisfied and worries that her ambition may endanger the old King

2.47.9

idaṃ vyasanam ālokya rājñaś ca mativibhramam
kāma evārdhadharmābhyāṃ garīyān iti me matiḥ

Seeing this calamity and the king's confusion of mind, my conviction is that desire is weightier than both wealth and dharma.

Words: idaṃ vyasanam — this calamity; ālokya — having seen; rājñaś ca — and the king's; mativibhramam — confusion of mind; kāma — desire; evārdhadharmābhyāṃ — than both wealth and dharma; garīyān — weightier, mightier; iti me matiḥ — such is my conviction

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.