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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.58.56
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.
2.58.56
hā rāghava mahābāho hā mamāyāsa nāśana
rājā daśarathaḥ śocañ jīvitāntam upāgamat
'Alas, Rāghava, mighty-armed! Alas, dispeller of my toil!' — thus grieving, King Daśaratha came to the end of his life.
Words: hā — alas; rāghava — O Rāghava; mahābāho — O mighty-armed one; hā — alas; mamāyāsa — (of) my toil; nāśana — O dispeller; rājā — king; daśarathaḥ — Daśaratha; śocañ — grieving; jīvitāntam — the end of life; upāgamat — came to, reached
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.