Shloka 3.49.15
सीताहरणम् — Ravana reveals his true form and abducts Sita
राज्याच्च्युतमसिद्धार्थं रामं परिमितायुषम्।कैर्गुणैरनुरक्तासि मूढे पण्डितमानिनि।।3.49.14।।यः स्त्रिया वचनाद्राज्यं विहाय ससुहृज्जनम्।अस्मिन्व्यालानुचरिते वने वसति दुर्मतिः।।3.49.15।।
yaḥ striyā vacanād rājyaṃ vihāya sa-suhṛjjanam |
asmin vyālānucarite vane vasati durmatiḥ || 3.49.15 ||
He, of perverse judgment, abandoned the kingdom along with his friends and well-wishers at a woman’s word, and now dwells in this forest haunted by wild beasts.
O stupid woman you think you are very wise. What is there in Rama so that you are attached to him ? He has left the kingdom and his kith and kin due to the words of a woman. He has not accomplished anything (in life). He has a limited life span and now lives in this forest haunted by wild animals.
Śūrpaṇakhā frames Rāma’s exile as weakness—“at a woman’s word”—but the epic’s dharmic lens treats his leaving the kingdom as fidelity to satya (truthfulness) and to the pledged word of his father’s household, not moral failure.
Śūrpaṇakhā criticizes Rāma as “durmatiḥ” for abandoning royal comfort and companions to live in a dangerous forest. Ethically, the verse highlights a clash between worldly prudence and the Ramayana’s ideal of principled adherence to truth and duty even under hardship.