Shloka 3.71.28
दनु-शापकथा तथा सीताहरण-प्रश्नः (Danu’s Curse Narrative and Rama’s Inquiry about Sita)
अदग्धस्य तु विज्ञातुं शक्तिरस्ति न मे प्रभो।।3.71.28।।राक्षसं तं महावीर्यं सीता येन हृता तव।
adagdhāsya tu vijñātuṃ śaktir asti na me prabho | rākṣasaṃ taṃ mahāvīryaṃ sītā yena hṛtā tava ||
O lord, so long as I have not been burned, I have no power to know or disclose that mighty rākṣasa by whom your Sītā was carried away.
O lord! before I am cremated, I do not have the ability to know about that powerful demon by whom Sita has been abducted.
Dharma here is truthfulness with humility: Kabandha admits the limits imposed on him (by curse/condition) and refuses to claim knowledge prematurely, aligning speech with reality (satya).
Kabandha, awaiting liberation from his cursed condition, tells Rama that he cannot identify the abductor of Sita until he is ritually burned.
Satya (truthful restraint): acknowledging incapacity rather than misleading Rama, even when urgently questioned.