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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.58.19

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: the father said that the prince's ignorance and voluntary confession had spared him an immediate, greater punishment → he asked to be led to his son

2.58.19

yady etad aśubhaṃ karma na sma me kathayeḥ svayam
phalen mūrdhā sma te rājan sadyaḥ śatasahasradhā

'If you had not told me yourself of this evil deed, then your head, O king, would at once have burst into a hundred thousand pieces.'

Words: yady — if; etad — this; aśubhaṃ — evil, inauspicious; karma — deed; na sma — had not; me — to me; kathayeḥ — (if) you had told; svayam — yourself; phalen — would burst; mūrdhā — (your) head; sma — (counterfactual particle); te — your; rājan — O king; sadyaḥ — at once; śatasahasradhā — into a hundred thousand pieces

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.