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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.51.18

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 51: Sumantra returns to Ayodhyā. Citizens surround the empty chariot, news of Rāma’s crossing renews their grief and Daśaratha collapses on receiving his message

In the sequence: covering his face, he drives to the palace and passes through the courtyards as the women wonder how he will speak to Kausalyā

2.51.18

yathā ca manye durjīvam evaṃ na sukaraṃ dhruvam
ācchidya putre niryāte kausalyā yatra jīvati

'As I think, living on is surely a hard thing and no easy matter—seeing that Kausalyā still lives, though her son was torn from her and is gone.'

Words: yathā — as, in which way; ca — and; manye — I think; durjīvam — hard to live, wretched living; evaṃ — so, thus; na — not; sukaraṃ — easy (to do); dhruvam — surely, certainly; ācchidya — having torn away, snatched; putre — when the son (loc. abs.); niryāte — having gone away (loc. abs.); kausalyā — Kausalyā; yatra — seeing that, since; jīvati — lives

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.