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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.57.29

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

2.57.29

kiṃ tavāpakṛtaṃ rājan vane nivasatā mayā
jihīrṣiur ambho gurvarthaṃ yad ahaṃ tāḍitas tvayā

'What wrong have I, dwelling in the forest, done to you, O king, that I, seeking to fetch water for my elders, have been struck down by you?'

Words: kiṃ — what; tavāpakṛtaṃ — wrong done to you; rājan — O king; vane — in the forest; nivasatā — by (me) dwelling; mayā — by me; jihīrṣiur — wishing to fetch; ambho — water; gurvarthaṃ — for the sake of my elders; yad — in that, since; ahaṃ — I; tāḍitas — struck; tvayā — by you

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.