← 2.58.12 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 58: The curse and Daśaratha’s death · 2.58.14 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.58.13

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 58: The curse and Daśaratha’s death. The youth’s father condemns him to die grieving for a son, Daśaratha recalls the curse and dies calling for Rāma

In the sequence: Daśaratha identified himself and confessed that he had mistaken the sound of the filling pot for an animal → he told the father that the youth had died when he withdrew the arrow

2.58.13

tatra śruto mayā śabdo jale kumbhasya pūryataḥ
dvipo 'yam iti matvā hi bāṇenābhihato mayā

'There I heard the sound of a pitcher being filled in the water; thinking "this is an elephant," I struck at it with an arrow.'

Words: tatra — there; śruto — was heard; mayā — by me; śabdo — the sound; jale — in the water; kumbhasya — of the pitcher; pūryataḥ — being filled; dvipo — an elephant; 'yam — this; iti — thus; matvā — having thought; hi — indeed; bāṇenābhihato — struck with an arrow; mayā — by me

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.