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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.57.28

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

2.57.28

sa mām udvīkṣya netrābhyāṃ trastam asvasthacetasaṃ
ity uvāca vacaḥ krūraṃ didhakṣann iva tejasā

Gazing up at me with his eyes — me, terrified and sick at heart — he spoke these harsh words, as if to burn me with his fiery power:

Words: sa — he; mām — me; udvīkṣya — having looked up at; netrābhyāṃ — with (his) eyes; trastam — terrified; asvasthacetasaṃ — sick at heart; ity — thus; uvāca — said; vacaḥ — words; krūraṃ — harsh, cruel; didhakṣann — as if wishing to burn; iva — as if; tejasā — with (his) fiery power

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.