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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.56.6

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: Rāma repeatedly asks where Sītā is, recalling how she shared his exile and saying that no Kingdom could compensate for losing her

3.56.6

kaccij jīvati vaidehī prāṇaiḥ priyatarā mama
kaccit pravrājanaṃ saumya na me mithyā bhaviṣyati

Is Vaidehī, dearer to me than my own life, still alive? Gentle one, will my exile not prove to have been in vain?

Words: kaccij — surely?; jīvati — lives; vaidehī — Vaidehī; prāṇaiḥ — than (my) life-breaths; priyatarā — dearer; mama — to me; kaccit — surely?; pravrājanaṃ — exile, banishment; saumya — O gentle one; na — not; me — my; mithyā — in vain; bhaviṣyati — will become

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.