← 3.58.16 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 58: Rāma searches for Sītā · 3.58.18 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.58.17

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 58: Rāma searches for Sītā. He finds the hut disordered, questions trees and animals and imagines her yellow clothing among the woods

In the sequence: he asks the trees she loved and the deer, elephant, and tiger whether they have seen her

3.58.17

aśokaśokāpanuda śokopahatacetasaṃ
tvannāmānaṃ kuru kṣipraṃ priyāsaṃdarśanena mām

O aśoka, dispeller of sorrow, quickly make me—whose mind is stricken with grief—true to your name by the sight of my beloved.

Words: aśokaśokāpanuda — O aśoka, dispeller of grief; śokopahatacetasaṃ — whose mind is stricken by grief; tvannāmānaṃ — bearing your name; kuru — make; kṣipraṃ — quickly; priyāsaṃdarśanena — by the sight of my beloved; mām — me

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.