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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.62.8
Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 62: Lakṣmaṇa recalls Rāma’s own teaching. Even the great suffer loss, judgment and effort must survive grief so that the enemy can be found and defeated
In the sequence: he cites misfortune even among the great: Yayāti's fall, Vasiṣṭha's loss of a hundred sons, the earth's tremors, and eclipses of the sun and moon
3.62.8
maharṣayo vasiṣṭhas tu yaḥ pitur naḥ purohitaḥ
ahnā putraśataṃ jajñe tathaivāsya punar hatam
“And the great seer Vasiṣṭha, who is the family priest of our father — in a single day a hundred sons were born to him, and likewise again they were slain.
Words: maharṣayo — the great seers; vasiṣṭhas — Vasiṣṭha; tu — but, indeed; yaḥ — who; pitur — of the father; naḥ — our; purohitaḥ — family priest; ahnā — in a day; putraśataṃ — a hundred sons; jajñe — was born; tathaivāsya — and likewise his; punar — again; hatam — was slain
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.