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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.98.61
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.
2.98.61
idaṃ nikhilam avyagraṃ pitryaṃ rājyam akaṇṭakam
anuśādhi svadharmeṇa dharmajña saha bāndhavaiḥ
This entire ancestral kingdom, undisturbed and free of thorns, rule by your own dharma, O knower of dharma, together with our kinsmen.
Words: idaṃ nikhilam — this entire; avyagraṃ — undisturbed, whole; pitryaṃ rājyam — ancestral kingdom; akaṇṭakam — free of thorns; anuśādhi — govern, rule; svadharmeṇa — by your own dharma; dharmajña — O knower of dharma; saha bāndhavaiḥ — together with the kinsmen
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.