Shloka 2.11.23
कैकेयीवरप्रार्थना — Kaikeyi Demands the Two Boons
ततः परमुवाचेदं वरदं काममोहितम्।वरौ यौ मे त्वया देव तदा दत्तौ महीपते।।।।तौ तावदहमद्यैव वक्ष्यामि शृणु मे वचः।
tataḥ param uvācedaṃ varadaṃ kāmamohitam | varau yau me tvayā deva tadā dattau mahīpate || tau tāvad aham adyaiva vakṣyāmi śṛṇu me vacaḥ |
After that she spoke to the boon-giving king, bewitched by desire: “O lord of the earth, O King, the two boons you once granted me—I shall state them now. Listen to my words.”
Thereafter, she said to the infatuated king who had promised to confer her boons, O lord of the earth, O king, right now I shall speak to you about the two boons granted by you. Listen to my words.
It foregrounds the moral tension between dharma (truth to one’s pledge) and kāma (desire-induced delusion), showing how dharma can be tested when judgment is clouded.
Kaikeyī announces she will now articulate the two promised boons, marking the turning point toward Rāma’s exile and Bharata’s proposed coronation.
The virtue at stake is Daśaratha’s fidelity to his word; the verse also critiques the weakening of discernment under kāma-moha.