← 2.55.17 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 55: Kausalyā reproaches Daśaratha · 2.55.19 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.55.18

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

2.55.18

gatir evāk patir nāryā dvitīyā gatir ātmajaḥ
tṛtīyā jñātayo rājaṃś caturthī neha vidyate

“The husband is a woman's very refuge; the son is her second refuge; the kinsmen the third, O king; a fourth there is none here.

Words: gatir — refuge, recourse; evāk — the very (foremost); patir — the husband; nāryā — of a woman; dvitīyā — second; gatir — refuge; ātmajaḥ — the son, offspring; tṛtīyā — third; jñātayo — the kinsmen; rājaṃś — O king; caturthī — a fourth; neha — not here; vidyate — exists, is found

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.