← 2.56.1 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 56: Kausalyā & Daśaratha reconcile · 2.56.3 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.56.2

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 56: Kausalyā & Daśaratha reconcile. He begs her to stop deepening his pain, she apologizes and says five nights of separation have felt like five years

In the sequence: Daśaratha recalls the time he shot at an unseen target by sound

2.56.2

tasya cintayamānasya pratyabhāt karma duṣkṛtam
yad anena kṛtaṃ pūrvam ajñānāc chabdavedhinā

As he brooded, there rose before his mind an evil deed that he had done long ago in ignorance, shooting at a mere sound.

Words: tasya — of him; cintayamānasya — as he was brooding; pratyabhāt — appeared, came to mind; karma — deed; duṣkṛtam — evil, ill-done; yad — which; anena — by him; kṛtaṃ — done; pūrvam — formerly; ajñānāc — out of ignorance; chabdavedhinā — by (him) who shoots at sound

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.