Shloka 3.56.5
सीताया रावणनिन्दा — अशोकवनिकाप्रवेशः (Sita’s Rebuke of Ravana; Removal to the Ashoka Grove)
प्रत्यक्षं यद्यहं तस्य त्वया स्यां धर्षिता बलात्।शयिता त्वं हतस्संख्ये जनस्थाने यथा खरः।।।।
pratyakṣaṃ yady ahaṃ tasya tvayā syāṃ dharṣitā balāt |
śayitā tvaṃ hataḥ saṃkhye janasthāne yathā kharaḥ ||
If, in his very presence, you had assaulted me by force, you would have lain slain in battle at Jana-sthāna—just as Khara did.
Had you abducted me forcibly in his presence, you would have been lying down dead just as Khara in Janasthana.
The verse asserts moral causality: adharma (violent violation) results in righteous punishment. Dharma protects the innocent and holds aggressors accountable.
Sītā rebukes Rāvaṇa, stating that only by deception and absence of Rāma could he abduct her; otherwise he would have been killed like Khara.
Sītā’s integrity and clarity: she refuses to concede power to the abductor and frames events in terms of truth and justice.