← 2.68.21 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 68: Surabhi’s tears and Bharata’s vow · 2.68.23 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.68.22

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

2.68.22

etau dṛṣṭvā kṛṣau dīnau sūryaraśmipratāpinau
vadhyamānau balīvardau karṣakeṇa surādhipa

Seeing these two oxen, gaunt and wretched, scorched by the sun's rays and beaten by the ploughman, O lord of the gods —

Words: etau — these two; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; kṛṣau — the two lean, emaciated; dīnau — the two wretched; sūryaraśmipratāpinau — scorched by the sun's rays; vadhyamānau — the two being beaten; balīvardau — the two oxen, bullocks; karṣakeṇa — by the ploughman; surādhipa — O lord of the gods

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.