← 2.68.20 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 68: Surabhi’s tears and Bharata’s vow · 2.68.22 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.68.21

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: when Indra asked what danger troubled her, she explained that she was grieving for the two oxen, beaten and worn out in the sun

2.68.21

śāntaṃ pātaṃ na vaḥ kiṃ cit kutaś cid amarādhipa
ahaṃ tu magnau śocāmi svaputrau viṣame sthitau

May all calamity be averted — none at all threatens you from any quarter, O lord of the immortals; but I grieve for my two sunken sons, set in a hard plight.

Words: śāntaṃ — averted, allayed; pātaṃ — calamity, downfall; na — not; vaḥ — to you (all); kiṃ cit — any at all; kutaś cid — from anywhere; amarādhipa — O lord of the immortals; ahaṃ — I; tu — but; magnau — the two sunk down; śocāmi — I grieve for; svaputrau — my own two sons; viṣame — in a hard plight; sthitau — the two placed, set

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.