Chapter 43 — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 43

Valmiki Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda

Verse 43.4

अथास्मिन् नगरे रामश्चरन् भैक्षं गृहे वसेत्। कामकारो वरं दातुमपि दासं ममात्मजम्॥

athāsmin nagare rāmaścaran bhaikṣaṃ gṛhe vaset| kāmakāro varaṃ dātumapi dāsaṃ mamātmajam||

English Meaning

If Rāma had stayed in this city subsisting himself by alms, or had I made my son as Kaikeyi's slave, even that would have been preferable (before his retirement to the woods.)

M.N. Dutt (1891–94, public domain)