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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.58.22

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

2.58.22

naya nau nṛpa taṃ deśam iti māṃ cābhyabhāṣata
adya taṃ draṣṭum icchāvaḥ putraṃ paścimadarśanam

'Lead us two to that place, O king,' he said to me, 'today we wish to see our son, for the last time.'

Words: naya — lead; nau — us two; nṛpa — O king; taṃ — that; deśam — place; iti — thus; māṃ — to me; cābhyabhāṣata — and he spoke; adya — today; taṃ — that; draṣṭum — to see; icchāvaḥ — we two wish; putraṃ — son; paścimadarśanam — for a last sight

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.