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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.98.5
Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 98: Bharata’s appeal and Rāma’s answer. Bharata asks him to restore the Kingdom, Rāma teaches the inevitability of loss, separation and death
In the sequence: Bharata argues that if the Kingdom was given to him, he can now give it to Rāma → he says the responsibility is too great for him and compares the Kingdom to a breached embankment that only Rāma can repair
2.98.5
mahatevāmbuvegena bhinnaḥ setur jalāgame
durāvāraṃ tvadanyena rājyakhaṇḍam idaṃ mahat
Like a dyke breached by a mighty rush of water at the coming of the flood, this vast portion of a realm is hard for anyone but you to hold in check.
Words: mahatevāmbuvegena — as if by a great force of water; bhinnaḥ — broken, breached; setur — the dyke, dam; jalāgame — at the coming of the flood; durāvāraṃ — hard to hold back; tvadanyena — by anyone other than you; rājyakhaṇḍam idaṃ — this piece of a kingdom; mahat — great, vast
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.