Valmiki Ramayana 2.66.5: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 66, Shloka 5
अयोध्यायां शोकविलापः · Lamentation in Ayodhya after Daśaratha’s death
भर्तारं तं परित्यज्य का स्त्री दैवतमात्मनः ।
इच्छेज्जीवितुमन्यत्र कैकेय्यास्त्यक्तधर्मणः ॥५॥
bhartāraṁ taṁ parityajya kā strī daivatam ātmanaḥ |
icchej jīvitum anyatra kaikeyyās tyaktadharmaṇaḥ ||5||
Welche Frau würde, nachdem sie ihren Gatten—ihre lebendige Gottheit—verlassen hat, noch leben wollen? Keine, außer Kaikeyī, die das Dharma verworfen hat.
Which woman wishes to live, leaving her god-like husband, except Kaikeyi who has given up her sense of duty?
FAQs
The verse asserts that dharma sustains relationships and social order; abandoning duty toward one’s rightful spouse (and by extension the household’s moral center) is portrayed as a grave ethical collapse.
Kauśalyā, overwhelmed by Daśaratha’s death and Rāma’s exile, denounces Kaikeyī as uniquely capable of living after causing such rupture.
The ideal of fidelity and reverence within marriage (as Kauśalyā understands it), contrasted with Kaikeyī’s perceived moral abandonment.
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