← 2.68.17 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 68: Surabhi’s tears and Bharata’s vow · 2.68.19 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.68.18

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

2.68.18

tāṃ dṛṣṭvā śokasaṃtaptāṃ vajrapāṇir yaśasvinīm
indraḥ prāñjalir udvignaḥ surarājo 'bravīd vacaḥ

Seeing that illustrious one scorched with grief, Indra the thunderbolt-bearer, king of the gods, distressed and with palms joined, spoke these words:

Words: tāṃ — her; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; śokasaṃtaptāṃ — scorched with grief; vajrapāṇir — the thunderbolt-handed one; yaśasvinīm — the illustrious one; indraḥ — Indra; prāñjalir — with palms joined; udvignaḥ — agitated, distressed; surarājo 'bravīd — the king of the gods spoke; vacaḥ — words

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.