Shloka 2.12.100
द्वादशः सर्गः — Kaikeyi’s Boons and Dasaratha’s Moral Collapse (Ayodhya Kanda 12)
महार्हवस्त्रसंवीतो भूत्वा चिरसुखोषितः।।।।काषायपरिधानस्तु कथं भूमौनिवत्स्यति।
mahārha-vastra-saṃvīto bhūtvā cira-sukhoṣitaḥ | kāṣāya-paridhānas tu kathaṃ bhūmau nivatsyati ||
How will he—long accustomed to comfort and clad in costly garments—live and sleep upon the bare ground, wearing only ochre robes?
How will he who was habituated to wearing expensive apparels and to (royal) comforts over a long period of time live (sleep) on the ground, putting on saffronrobes?
Dharma includes compassion and proportionality: Daśaratha highlights the human cost of exile, questioning the righteousness of imposing severe hardship on one who has done no wrong.
Daśaratha imagines Rama’s sudden shift from royal comfort to ascetic hardship in the forest.
Daśaratha’s paternal tenderness; implicitly, Rama’s capacity for renunciation is contrasted with his prior princely life.