← 2.58.7 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 58: The curse and Daśaratha’s death · 2.58.9 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.58.8

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 blind father heard his footsteps and assumed his son had returned; he asked why he had been so long and why he was silent

2.58.8

tvaṃ gatis tv agatīnāṃ ca cakṣus tvaṃ hīnacakṣuṣām
samāsaktās tvayi prāṇāḥ kiṃ cin nau nābhibhāṣase

You are the refuge of us who have no refuge, you are the eye of us who lack eyes; our lives are bound up in you. Why do you not speak to us at all?

Words: tvaṃ — you; gatis — refuge, recourse; tv — indeed; agatīnāṃ — of the refugeless; ca — and; cakṣus — eye; tvaṃ — you; hīnacakṣuṣām — of those deprived of eyes; samāsaktās — bound up, attached; tvayi — in you; prāṇāḥ — (our) lives, breaths; kiṃ cin — at all; nau — to us two; nābhibhāṣase — you do not speak

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.