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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.98.54
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 admires Rāma's steadiness but argues that a good son should correct a father's harmful decision → he rejects Kaikeyī's action and asks Rāma to rescue the family and people from its consequences
2.98.54
tad apatyaṃ bhavān astu mā bhavān duṣkṛtaṃ pituḥ
abhipat tat kṛtaṃ karma loke dhīravigarhitam
Be you that [worthy] offspring; do not, sir, take upon yourself your father's misdeed—that deed done which is censured by the steadfast in the world.
Words: tad apatyaṃ — that (worthy) offspring; bhavān astu — be you, let you be; mā bhavān — let not you; duṣkṛtaṃ pituḥ — the father's misdeed; abhipat — take upon, incur; tat kṛtaṃ karma — that deed done; loke — in the world; dhīravigarhitam — censured by the steadfast
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.