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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.68.23

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

2.68.23

mama kāyāt prasūtau hi duḥkhitau bhāra pīḍitau
yau dṛṣṭvā paritapye 'haṃ nāsti putrasamaḥ priyaḥ

For they were born of my own body, and now, distressed and crushed by their load — seeing them I burn with grief; there is none so dear as a son.

Words: mama — my; kāyāt — from the body; prasūtau — the two born; hi — for, indeed; duḥkhitau — the two distressed; bhāra pīḍitau — crushed by their burden; yau — which two; dṛṣṭvā — having seen; paritapye — I am tormented; 'haṃ — I; nāsti — there is not; putrasamaḥ — equal to a son; priyaḥ — dear one

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.