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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.57.25

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

2.57.25

vṛddhau ca mātāpitarāv ahaṃ caikeṣuṇā hataḥ
kena sma nihatāḥ sarve subālenākṛtātmanā

'My aged mother and father, and I, slain by a single arrow — by whom have we all been struck down, by some mere boy of unformed mind?'

Words: vṛddhau — the two aged ones; ca — and; mātāpitarāv — mother and father; ahaṃ — I; caikeṣuṇā — and by a single arrow; hataḥ — slain; kena — by whom; sma — (emphatic particle); nihatāḥ — struck down; sarve — all; subālenākṛtātmanā — by a mere boy of undisciplined mind

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.