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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.57.30

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

2.57.30

ekena khalu bāṇena marmaṇy abhihate mayi
dvāv andhau nihatau vṛddhau mātā janayitā ca me

'Indeed, when I have been struck in a vital spot by a single arrow, two aged blind ones are slain — my mother and my father who begot me.'

Words: ekena — by a single; khalu — indeed; bāṇena — arrow; marmaṇy — in a vital spot; abhihate — struck; mayi — when I am ...; dvāv — two; andhau — blind ones; nihatau — are slain; vṛddhau — aged; mātā — mother; janayitā — the begetter, father; ca — and; me — my

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.