Chapter 66 — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 66

Valmiki Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda

Verse 66.11

न तु संकालनं राज्ञो विना पुत्रेण मन्त्रिणः। सर्वज्ञाः कर्तुमीषुस्ते ततो रक्षन्ति भूमिपम्॥ तैलद्रोण्यां शायितं तं सचिवैस्तु नराधिपम्। हा मृतोऽयमिति ज्ञात्वा स्त्रियस्ताः पर्यदेवयन्॥

na tu saṃkālanaṃ rājño vinā putreṇa mantriṇaḥ| sarvajñāḥ kartumīṣuste tato rakṣanti bhūmipam|| tailadroṇyāṃ śāyitaṃ taṃ sacivaistu narādhipam| hā mṛto'yamiti jñātvā striyastāḥ paryadevayan||

English Meaning

But well versed in everything, the counsellors, in the absence of his son, did not perform the funeral obsequies of the king; and therefore they placed his body stretched in the pan of oil. Alas! at length concluding it for certain that the king was dead, the ladies burst out into lamentaions.

M.N. Dutt (1891–94, public domain)