Shloka 12
सीता-रावण-संवादः
Sītā–Rāvaṇa Dialogue in the Aśoka Grove
स कोटिकास्यं राजानमब्रवीत् काममोहित: । कस्य त्वेषानवद्याज्री यदि वापि न मानुषी,उसने काममोहित होकर राजा कोटिकास्यसे कहा--“कोटिक! जरा जाकर पता तो लगाओ, यह सर्वागसुन्दरी किसकी स्त्री है? अथवा यह मनुष्यजातिकी स्त्री है भी या नहीं?
sa koṭikāsyaṁ rājānam abravīt kāmamohitaḥ | kasya tveṣānavadyā strī yadi vāpi na mānuṣī ||
Overcome by desire, he addressed King Koṭikāsya: “Koṭika, go and find out—whose wife is this flawless, exquisitely beautiful woman? Or is she perhaps not even a human woman?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how kāma (desire) can cloud judgment (moha), prompting a person to objectify another and disregard ethical restraint; it implicitly warns that unchecked desire leads to morally risky curiosity and action.
A man, infatuated by a woman’s beauty, speaks to King Koṭikāsya and asks him to investigate whose wife she is, even wondering whether she is human—setting up a situation where desire-driven inquiry may lead to conflict or wrongdoing.