Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 14, Shloka 21
सत्यपाशः
Kaikeyi’s Demand and the Noose of the King’s Promise
किमिदं भाषसे राजन्वाक्यं गररुजोपमम्।आनाययितुमक्लिष्टं पुत्रं राममिहार्हसि।।।।
kim idaṃ bhāṣase rājan vākyaṃ gara-rujopamam |
ānāyayitum akliṣṭaṃ putraṃ rāmam ihārhasi ||
O King, why do you speak words like the pain of poison? You should summon here your son Rāma, who is not afflicted (as you are).
O king, why are you speaking these painful, poisonous words? What is this? Itbehoves you to summon your son Rama who does not expearience this pain.
FAQs
It points to the ethical responsibility of speech: words can wound like poison; dharma demands restraint and clarity, especially in crisis.
Kaikeyī presses Daśaratha to stop lamenting and to call Rāma, preparing to force the promised outcome.
Rāma is implicitly marked as steady and untroubled (akliṣṭa), foreshadowing his composure under hardship.