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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.68.25
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: Bharata asks how much greater Kausalyā's grief must be when even a mother of countless offspring suffers for two
2.68.25
ekaputrā ca sādhvī ca vivatseyaṃ tvayā kṛtā
tasmāt tvaṃ satataṃ duḥkhaṃ pretya ceha ca lapsyase
She had but one son and is virtuous, yet by you she has been made bereft of her child; therefore you will reap unending sorrow, both hereafter and here.
Words: ekaputrā — having but one son; ca — and; sādhvī — a virtuous woman; ca — and; vivatseyaṃ — this one bereft of her child; tvayā — by you; kṛtā — made; tasmāt — therefore; tvaṃ — you; satataṃ — constantly, unceasingly; duḥkhaṃ — sorrow; pretya — having died, in the hereafter; ceha — and here; ca — too; lapsyase — you will obtain
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.