Ramayana — Yuddha Kanda, Sarga 114, Shloka 64
रावणस्य अन्त्येष्टिः
Ravana’s Funeral Rites and the Ethics of Post-War Conduct
याःस्त्वयाविधवाराजन्कृतानैकाःकुलस्त्रियः ।।।।पतिव्रताधर्मरतागुरुशुश्रूषणेरताः ।ताभिश्शोकाभितप्ताभिश्शप्तःपरवशंगतः ।।।।त्वयाविप्रकृताभिर्यत्तदाशप्तंतदागतम् ।
yāḥ stvayā vidhavā rājan kṛtā naikāḥ kulastriyaḥ | pativratā dharmaratā guruśuśrūṣaṇe ratāḥ | tābhiḥ śokābhitaptābhiḥ śaptaḥ paravaśaṃ gataḥ | tvayā viprakṛtābhir yat tadā śaptaṃ tad āgatam ||
O king, many noble women were made widows by you—women devoted to their husbands, devoted to dharma, and devoted to serving their elders. Tormented by grief, they cursed you; and thus you came under the power of your enemy. What was then uttered as a curse by those whom you had wronged—has now come upon you.
"These people who were with you are always sporting my Lord. Why do you not call them, why are you not consoling them, or inviting them?"
FAQs
Adharma toward the innocent—especially the vulnerable—returns as inevitable consequence. The epic frames moral causality: injustice produces bondage and ruin.
Mandodarī interprets Rāvaṇa’s defeat as the fruition of the curses and suffering caused by his past violence, particularly the widowing of righteous women.
Moral accountability: even in mourning, Mandodarī names wrongdoing and recognizes that ethical violations have consequences.
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