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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.51.25

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: Kausalyā and Sumitrā lift him → Kausalyā urges him to question the messenger freely, then is herself overcome.

2.51.25

imaṃ tasya mahābhāga dūtaṃ duṣkarakāriṇaḥ
vanavāsād anuprāptaṃ kasmān na pratibhāṣase

'O illustrious one, why do you not answer this messenger, come from the forest-exile of him who does such hard deeds?'

Words: imaṃ — this; tasya — of him; mahābhāga — O illustrious one; dūtaṃ — messenger; duṣkarakāriṇaḥ — of the doer of hard deeds; vanavāsād — from the forest-exile; anuprāptaṃ — arrived, come; kasmān — why; na — not; pratibhāṣase — do you answer, reply

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.