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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.68.28

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: he vows to restore Rāma and enter the forest himself → overwhelmed, he falls to the ground.

2.68.28

iti nāga ivāraṇye tomarāṅkuśacoditaḥ
papāta bhuvi saṃkruddho niḥśvasann iva pannagaḥ

So saying, like a forest elephant goaded by lance and hook, he fell to the ground in fury, hissing like a serpent.

Words: iti — thus (saying); nāga — an elephant; ivāraṇye — as if in the forest; tomarāṅkuśacoditaḥ — driven by lance and goad; papāta — fell; bhuvi — on the ground; saṃkruddho — enraged; niḥśvasann — hissing, breathing hard; iva — like; pannagaḥ — a serpent

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.