Shloka 2.11.14
कैकेयीवरप्रार्थना — Kaikeyi Demands the Two Boons
चन्द्रादित्यौ नभश्चैव ग्रहा रात्र्यहनी दिशः।जगच्च पृथिवी चेयं सगन्धर्वा सराक्षसा।।।।निशाचराणि भूतानि गृहेषु गृहदेवता।यानि चान्यानि भूतानि जानीयुर्भाषितं तव।।।।
candrādityau nabhaś caiva grahā rātryahanī diśaḥ | jagac ca pṛthivī ceyaṃ sa-gandharvā sa-rākṣasāḥ || niśācarāṇi bhūtāni gṛheṣu gṛhadevatāḥ | yāni cānyāni bhūtāni jānīyur bhāṣitaṃ tava || 2.11.14 ||
Let the Moon and Sun, the sky, the planets, night and day, and the directions; the world and this earth—together with Gandharvas and Rākṣasas—let night-roaming beings, household deities in homes, and whatever other beings there are, all know your spoken pledge.
Let the Moon and the Sun, the sky, the planets, night and day, the (ten) quarters the world, gandharvas, rakshasas, this earth, the nocturnal spirits all beings, family deities of every house and all other beings listen to your words of promise.
Truth is placed under universal scrutiny: dharma treats a promise as something the whole moral cosmos can ‘witness,’ increasing the seriousness of speech.
Kaikeyī expands the list of witnesses to include cosmic and local divinities, making Daśaratha’s promise maximally binding.
The virtue of satya as a public commitment—speech must align with righteousness because it is accountable to the wider order (ṛta/dharma).