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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.94.50

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 94: Rāma questions Bharata’s governance. He asks after the family, advisers, spies, troop provisions, water, revenue and impartial justice, still unaware of Daśaratha’s death

In the sequence: he asks about the royal household, elephant forests, fort supplies, revenue, spending, and impartial justice → innocent people must not be convicted for money, nor guilty people released through bribery

2.94.50

yāni mithyābhiśastānāṃ patanty asrāṇi rāghava
tāni putrapaśūn ghnanti prītyartham anuśāsataḥ

The tears that fall from those falsely accused, O Rāghava, destroy the sons and cattle of a ruler who governs only for his own pleasure.

Words: yāni — which (tears); mithyābhiśastānāṃ — of the falsely accused; patanty — fall; asrāṇi — tears; rāghava — O Rāghava; tāni — those (tears); putrapaśūn — sons and cattle; ghnanti — slay, destroy; prītyartham — for the sake of (his own) pleasure; anuśāsataḥ — of the ruler who governs

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.