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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.55.16

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 55: Kausalyā reproaches Daśaratha. She fears Rāma will reject Bharata’s former Kingdom even after returning, Daśaratha collapses and recalls his past wrongdoing

In the sequence: she says Daśaratha has deprived her of both her husband's support and her son's presence; in this outburst she also says she does not wish to go to the forest herself

2.55.16

sa tādṛśaḥ siṃhabalo vṛṣabhākṣo nararṣabhaḥ
svayam eva hataḥ pitrā jalajenātmajo yathā

“Such a one, strong as a lion, bull-eyed, a bull among men, has been struck down by his own father—as a fish is (destroyed) by its own offspring.

Words: sa — he; tādṛśaḥ — such, of such a kind; siṃhabalo — strong as a lion; vṛṣabhākṣo — bull-eyed; nararṣabhaḥ — a bull among men; svayam — himself, by his very self; eva — indeed; hataḥ — struck down, destroyed; pitrā — by (his) father; jalajenātmajo — by the water-born (fish) its offspring; 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.