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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.58.30

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 parents touched the body and lamented the loss of the person who fed them, guided them, tended the fire, and comforted them

2.58.30

imām andhāṃ ca vṛddhāṃ ca mātaraṃ te tapasvinīm
kathaṃ putra bhariṣyāmi kṛpaṇāṃ putragardhinīm

'How, my son, shall I support this blind and aged mother of yours, poor ascetic woman, wretched, longing for her son?'

Words: imām — this; andhāṃ — blind; ca — and; vṛddhāṃ — aged; ca — and; mātaraṃ — mother; te — your; tapasvinīm — ascetic woman; kathaṃ — how; putra — O son; bhariṣyāmi — shall I support; kṛpaṇāṃ — wretched, pitiable; putragardhinīm — longing for her son

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.