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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.68.17

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

2.68.17

adhastād vrajatas tasyāḥ surarājño mahātmanaḥ
bindavaḥ patitā gātre sūkṣmāḥ surabhigandhinaḥ

Upon the body of the great-souled king of the gods, as he passed below her, there fell from her tiny drops, fragrant with a sweet scent.

Words: adhastād — below; vrajatas — as he was passing; tasyāḥ — of her (Surabhi); surarājño — of the king of the gods; mahātmanaḥ — of the great-souled one; bindavaḥ — drops; patitā — fell; gātre — on his body; sūkṣmāḥ — tiny, subtle; surabhigandhinaḥ — fragrant with a sweet scent

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.