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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.58.50
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: Returning to the present, Daśaratha tells Kausalyā that the curse has now reached him → he longs for one final touch from Rāma, but his sight and memory begin to fail → he imagines the fortunate people who will see his son return after the exile → calling for Rāma, he dies at midnight.
2.58.50
atas tu kiṃ duḥkhataraṃ yad ahaṃ jīvitakṣaye
na hi paśyāmi dharmajñaṃ rāmaṃ satyaparākyamam
And what is more painful than this — that at the ending of my life I do not see Rāma, the knower of dharma, of true valor?
Words: atas — than this; tu — indeed; kiṃ — what; duḥkhataraṃ — more painful; yad — that; ahaṃ — I; jīvitakṣaye — at the ending of life; na — not; hi — for; paśyāmi — I see; dharmajñaṃ — the knower of dharma; rāmaṃ — Rāma; satyaparākyamam — of true valor [read satyaparākramam]
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.