Ramayana — Yuddha Kanda, Sarga 65, Shloka 44
कुम्भकर्णप्रस्थानम्
Kumbhakarna’s Departure for Battle
नापराध्यन्तिमेकामंवानरा: वनचारिणः ।जातिरस्मद्विधानांसापुरोद्यानविभूषणम् ।।।।
nāparādhyanti me kāmaṃ vānārā vanacāriṇaḥ |
jātir asmadvidhānāṃ sā purodyānavibhūṣaṇam ||6.65.44||
“Those vanaras who roam the forests have never, of their own will, offended me. That very kind is, for people like us, an ornament of the royal gardens.”
"The root cause of besieging Lanka is Rama and Lakshmana. I will kill them in combat."
FAQs
A partial recognition of truth (satya): Kumbhakarṇa admits the vanaras did not personally wrong him. Yet dharma also demands that acknowledged innocence should restrain violence; the verse shows moral inconsistency—truth spoken without ethical follow-through.
While preparing for battle, Kumbhakarṇa remarks that the vanaras are not his personal enemies.
Candor about facts (a form of satya), though it is undermined by his continuing commitment to destructive action.