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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.98.56
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: he says ruling and maintaining a household are appropriate duties for Rāma at this stage of life → he asks Vasiṣṭha to install Rāma there in the forest and offers once again to stay if Rāma will not return → Rāma remains firm, while the gathering joins Bharata's appeal.
2.98.56
kva cāraṇyaṃ kva ca kṣātraṃ kva jaṭāḥ kva ca pālanam
īdṛśaṃ vyāhataṃ karma na bhavān kartum arhati
Where is forest life, and where the warrior's calling? Where the matted locks, and where the ruling of a realm? Such a self-contradictory course you ought not to follow.
Words: kva cāraṇyaṃ — where forest-life; kva ca kṣātraṃ — and where the kṣatriya's calling; kva jaṭāḥ — where matted locks; kva ca pālanam — and where ruling, protection; īdṛśaṃ — such a; vyāhataṃ karma — self-contradictory course; na bhavān kartum arhati — you ought not to do
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.