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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.57.23

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: the wounded youth said he feared less for himself than for his blind, elderly parents, who depended entirely on him

2.57.23

nemaṃ tathānuśocāmi jīvitakṣayam ātmanaḥ
mātaraṃ pitaraṃ cobhāv anuśocāmi madvidhe

'I do not so much grieve for this loss of my own life; I grieve rather for my mother and my father, both of them, at the death of one like me.'

Words: nemaṃ — not this; tathānuśocāmi — do I so grieve; jīvitakṣayam — loss of life; ātmanaḥ — of my own; mātaraṃ — mother; pitaraṃ — father; cobhāv — and both; anuśocāmi — I grieve for; madvidhe — at (the death of) one like me

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.