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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.58.55
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.
2.58.55
ayam ātmabhavaḥ śoko mām anātham acetanam
saṃsādayati vegena yathā kūlaṃ nadīrayaḥ
This self-born grief overwhelms me, helpless and senseless, with its rush, as the current of a river wears away its bank.
Words: ayam — this; ātmabhavaḥ — self-born; śoko — grief; mām — me; anātham — helpless; acetanam — senseless; saṃsādayati — overwhelms, wears down; vegena — with its rush, force; yathā — as; kūlaṃ — the bank; nadīrayaḥ — the current of a river
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.