Shloka 27
कैकेयीवरप्रार्थना
Kaikeyi Demands the Two Boons
भरतो भजतामद्य यौवराज्यमकण्टकम्।।।।एष मे परमः कामो दत्तमेव वरं वृणे।अद्य चैव हि पश्येयं प्रयान्तं राघवं वनम्।।।।
bharato bhajatām adya yauvarājyam akaṇṭakam | eṣa me paramaḥ kāmo dattam eva varaṁ vṛṇe | adya caiva hi paśyeyaṁ prayāntaṁ rāghavaṁ vanam ||
Möge Bharata noch heute das Amt des Prinzregenten übernehmen, ohne Widerpart, der ihn behindert. Dies ist mein höchster Wunsch; ich fordere die bereits gewährte Gabe ein. Und noch heute will ich sehen, wie Rāghava in den Wald aufbricht.
O Kaikeyi, in the name of Rama without seeing whom I, for sure, cannot live a momment, I swear I will fulfil your desire.
FAQs
It tests satya-dharma: a boon once granted becomes a moral bond. The verse frames a conflict between the king’s truth-keeping and the justice of the demand imposed through that bond.
Kaikeyī states her first boon explicitly: Bharata’s installation as prince-regent, and Rāma’s immediate departure into forest-exile.
Daśaratha’s expected virtue—truthfulness to his pledged boon—is the focal pressure point, even as the request itself appears adharma-oriented toward Rāma.