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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.56.12

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 56: Return to the empty hut. Rāma imagines Sītā’s loss and its consequences, hurries back with Lakṣmaṇa and finds their dwelling deserted

In the sequence: he imagines his own death, Kausalyā's further suffering, and Kaikeyī's satisfaction → he says he cannot live if Sītā does not greet him at the hermitage

3.56.12

sukumārī ca bālā ca nityaṃ cāduḥkhadarśinī
madviyogena vaidehī vyaktaṃ śocati durmanāḥ

Delicate and young and never having known sorrow, Vaidehī surely grieves, downcast, at being parted from me.

Words: sukumārī — delicate; ca — and; bālā — young; ca — and; nityaṃ — ever; cāduḥkhadarśinī — and never seeing sorrow; madviyogena — through separation from me; vaidehī — Vaidehī; vyaktaṃ — clearly; śocati — grieves; durmanāḥ — downcast

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.