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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.57.16

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 57: Daśaratha’s arrow aimed at a sound. He recalls mistaking a filling pot for an elephant and shooting a youth who directs him to his blind parents

In the sequence: waiting in darkness for an animal to drink, he heard a pot filling with water → mistaking the sound for an elephant, he shot without seeing his target

2.57.16

athāndhakāre tv aśrauṣaṃ jale kumbhasya paryataḥ
acakṣur viṣaye ghoṣaṃ vāraṇasyeva nardataḥ

Then in the darkness I heard in the water the gurgle of a pitcher being filled — a sound beyond my sight, like that of a trumpeting elephant.

Words: athāndhakāre — then in the darkness; tv — but; aśrauṣaṃ — I heard; jale — in the water; kumbhasya — of a pitcher, pot; paryataḥ — being filled; acakṣur — out of the eye's; viṣaye — range, domain; ghoṣaṃ — the sound, din; vāraṇasyeva — like an elephant's; nardataḥ — roaring, trumpeting

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.