Valmiki Ramayana 2.39.40: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 39, Shloka 40
एकोनचत्वारिंशः सर्गः · Dasaratha’s Lament, Sumantra’s Commission, and Sita’s Vow of Marital Dharma
Setting: Ayodhya—Daśaratha’s inner palace quartersPlaces named: Ayodhya
जज्ञेऽथ तासां सन्नादः क्रौञ्चीनामिव निस्वनः ।
मानवेन्द्रस्य भार्याणामेवं वदति राघवे ॥४०॥
jajñe 'tha tāsāṃ sannādaḥ krauñcīnām iva nisvanaḥ |
mānavendrasya bhāryāṇām evaṃ vadati rāghave ||40||
রাঘব এভাবে বলতেই নরেন্দ্রের পত্নীদের মধ্যে ক্রৌঞ্চী পাখিনীদের করুণ ডাকের মতো উচ্চ আর্তনাদ উঠল।
Sandhi Notes
- जज्ञेऽथ = जज्ञे + अथ (ए + अ → ’)
- भार्याणामेवं = भार्याणाम् + एवम् (म् + ए → मे)
While Rama said so, there arose a loud cry of the wives of the king like the cry of the female herons.
The teaching
Even in royal households, grief erupts beyond protocol; dharma must be carried through the turbulence of śoka.
Duties in tension
- Royal decorum vs. unavoidable grief
- Supporting the heir-apparent vs. mourning the king’s impending loss
- Ethical theme
- Rāja-dharma under crisis
- How it resolves
- Emotional catharsis preceding duty-bound action
For your practice
Contemplation on śoka and impermanence; cultivating karuṇā without losing steadiness (dhairya).
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion)
- Mood
- Keening, piercing, bereft
Themes
- Itihasa
- Pathos
- Dharma
- Separation
- Lament
Śoka arises from dehābhimāna; the sound-image points to saṃsāra’s duḥkha when attachments are threatened.
Katha/Brhadaranyaka themes: mortality’s certainty and the insufficiency of worldly status to avert grief.
- Rama and Dasharatha
- Son responding within father’s household crisis (sorrowful-dutybound)
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 1.2 (krauñca-krandana motif initiating śoka); Mahābhārata Strīparvan (collective women’s lament as social rupture)
krauñca-krandana as archetype of śoka in Sanskrit kāvya
Ayodhyākāṇḍa lament sequences around Daśaratha’s decline and death (2.39–2.40)
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Grieving
Mandra-niṣāda to madhyama glide, with kampita on long vowels to evoke vilāpa
FAQs
The verse highlights dharma’s emotional stakes: righteous decisions (like exile for truth) can trigger communal grief, revealing the gravity of moral commitments.
When Rāma speaks his farewell, Daśaratha’s queens break into a collective cry of lamentation.
Compassionate sensitivity is implied: the household’s grief underscores Rāma’s belovedness and the painful cost of duty.
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