Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 10, Shloka 25
क्रोधागारप्रवेशः — Entry into the Chamber of Wrath
Kaikeyī’s Protest
स वृद्धस्तरुणीं भार्यां प्राणेभ्योपि गरीयसीम्।।2.10.23।।अपापः पापसङ्कल्पां ददर्श धरणीतले।लतामिव विनिष्कृत्तां पतितां देवतामिव।।2.10.24।।किन्नरीमिव निर्धूतां च्युतामप्सरसं यथा।मायामिव परिभ्रष्टां हरिणीमिव संयताम्।।2.10.25।।
sa vṛddhas taruṇīṃ bhāryāṃ prāṇebhyo 'pi garīyasīm || 2.10.23 ||
apāpaḥ pāpasaṅkalpāṃ dadarśa dharaṇītale |
latām iva viniṣkṛttāṃ patitāṃ devatām iva || 2.10.24 ||
kinnarīm iva nirdhūtāṃ cyutām apsarasaṃ yathā |
māyām iva paribhraṣṭāṃ hariṇīm iva saṃyatām || 2.10.25 ||
Continuing the same chain of similes in the Southern Recension’s numbering: she looked like a kinnari cast down, like an apsaras fallen from heaven, like an illusion disrupted, and like a doe bound fast—images that intensified the king’s pity while concealing her motive.
The guileless, old king beheld his youthful wife who was dearer to him than his own life, filled with deceitful intentions. She looked like a severed creeper, like a goddess fallen down, like a 'Kinnari' thrown down on earth, like an 'apsarasa' slipped from heaven, like an illusion torn, like a female deer tied down.
FAQs
Dharma requires clarity beyond emotional spectacle; compassion must be joined with truth-seeking so that one is not led into unrighteous action.
The narrator completes the poetic depiction of Kaikeyī’s ‘fallen’ appearance in the wrath chamber.
Daśaratha’s tender-heartedness; the verse indirectly cautions that tenderness without discernment can be manipulated.