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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.68.15

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 68: Surabhi’s tears and Bharata’s vow. He compares Kausalyā’s sorrow to Surabhi’s grief for her exhausted oxen and offers to replace Rāma in exile

In the sequence: to explain Kausalyā's suffering, he tells of the divine cow Surabhi, whose tears fell on Indra when she saw two of her sons exhausted under a plough

2.68.15

anyadā kila dharmajñā surabhiḥ surasaṃmatā
vahamānau dadarśorvyāṃ putrau vigatacetasau

Once, they say, the righteous Surabhi, honoured by the gods, saw two of her sons upon the earth, hauling a plough, their senses failing.

Words: anyadā — once, on another occasion; kila — they say, indeed; dharmajñā — the knower of dharma; surabhiḥ — Surabhi (the divine cow); surasaṃmatā — esteemed by the gods; vahamānau — the two hauling, drawing loads; dadarśorvyāṃ — saw upon the earth; putrau — two sons; vigatacetasau — the two with senses gone, swooning

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.