← 2.70.22 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 70: Daśaratha’s cremation

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.70.23

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 70: Daśaratha’s cremation. The body is lifted from oil and carried to a fragrant-wood pyre, the family offers water in the Sarayū and begins ten days of mourning

In the sequence: the ṛtvijs and Queens circle the burning pyre, keeping Daśaratha to their left and then go to the Sarayū to offer water → the family observes ten days of mourning on the ground.

2.70.23

kṛtodakaṃ te bharatena sārdhaṃ nṛpāṅganā mantripurohitāś ca
puraṃ praviśyāśruparītanetrā bhūmau daśāhaṃ vyanayanta duḥkham

Having made the water-offering together with Bharata, the king's women and the ministers and house-priests entered the city, their eyes brimming with tears, and passed ten days of grief upon the bare ground.

Words: kṛtodakaṃ — the water-offering performed; te — they; bharatena — with Bharata; sārdhaṃ — together; nṛpāṅganā — the king's women; mantripurohitāś — the ministers and house-priests; ca — and; puraṃ — the city; praviśyāśruparītanetrā — having entered, their eyes brimming with tears; bhūmau — on the (bare) ground; daśāhaṃ — for ten days; vyanayanta — they passed, spent; duḥkham — in grief

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.