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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.57.27

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: Daśaratha dropped his bow, hurried to him, and saw what he had done → the youth told him that one arrow had effectively destroyed three lives

2.57.27

taṃ deśam aham āgamya dīnasattvaḥ sudurmanāḥ
apaśyam iṣuṇā tīre sarayvās tāpasaṃ hatam

Coming to that spot, wretched in spirit and utterly disheartened, I saw on the bank of the Sarayū the ascetic slain by my arrow.

Words: taṃ — that; deśam — place, spot; aham — I; āgamya — having come to; dīnasattvaḥ — wretched in spirit; sudurmanāḥ — utterly disheartened; apaśyam — I saw; iṣuṇā — by an arrow; tīre — on the bank; sarayvās — of the Sarayū; tāpasaṃ — the ascetic; hatam — slain

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.