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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.98.60
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.
2.98.60
hīnabuddhiguṇo bālo hīnaḥ sthānena cāpy aham
bhavatā ca vinā bhūto na vartayitum utsahe
Deficient in intellect and virtue, a mere boy, and inferior too in station, and bereft of you, I am not able to carry on.
Words: hīnabuddhiguṇo — deficient in intellect and virtue; bālo — a boy; hīnaḥ sthānena — inferior in station; cāpy aham — and I too; bhavatā ca vinā — and without you; bhūto — being; na vartayitum utsahe — I cannot manage to carry on
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.