Valmiki Ramayana 2.24.6-8: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 24, Shlokas 6-8
कौशल्यारामसंवादः · Kausalya
Rama Dialogue on Exile-Dharma
अयं तु मामात्मभव स्तवादर्शनमारुतः ।
विलापदुःखसमिधो रुदिताश्रुहुताहुतिः ॥६॥
चिन्ताबाष्पमहाधूमस्तवागमनचित्तजः ।
कर्शयित्वा भृशं पुत्र निश्वासायाससम्भवः ॥७॥
त्वया विहीनामिह मां शोकाग्निरतुलो महान् ।
प्रधक्ष्यति यथा कक्षं चित्रभानुर्हिमात्यये ॥८॥
ayaṃ tu mām ātmabhavaḥ tavādarśana-mārutaḥ |
vilāpa-duḥkha-samidhō ruditāśru-hutāhutiḥ ||6||
cintā-bāṣpa-mahādhūmas tavāgamanacittajaḥ |
karśayitvā bhṛśaṃ putra niśvāsāyāsa-sambhavaḥ ||7||
tvayā vihīnāṃ iha māṃ śokāgnir atulo mahān |
pradhakṣyati yathā kakṣaṃ citrabhānur himātyaye ||8||
إذا مضيتَ يا بُنيّ، قام في داخلي نارُ حزنٍ عظيمةٌ لا نظيرَ لها—تُذكيها ريحُ غيابك، وتغذّيها النواحُ والألم، وتكون دموعي قرابينَها، ودخانُها الكثيفُ أفكارَ القلق. مولودةٌ من زفراتٍ مُتعبة، ستُنهكني وتُحرقني، كما تُحرق النارُ المتّقدةُ العشبَ اليابسَ في حرِّ الصيف.
After your departure, O son, an incomparably huge fire of grief with sighs of exhaustion will burst from my body, fanned by the wind of your absence and fuelled by lamentation and affliction. My wailing tears will be the oblations. My anxiety will be the great smoke rising vapour. This fire of grief will leave me very much emaciated and burn me like fire burns a forest of dead trees or a bunch of dry grass in summer.
FAQs
The passage shows the human cost of dharma: Rāma’s adherence to truth and duty entails separation and suffering for his mother. Dharma is portrayed as morally elevated yet emotionally painful.
Kausalyā imagines the devastation she will experience once Rāma departs for forest-exile, using sacrificial-fire imagery to describe grief.
Kausalyā’s deep maternal devotion and honesty of emotion; Rāma’s implied steadfastness, since such grief arises only because he will not abandon his pledged duty.
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