Shloka 2.12.52
द्वादशः सर्गः — Kaikeyi’s Boons and Dasaratha’s Moral Collapse (Ayodhya Kanda 12)
प्रैक्षतानिमिषो देवीं प्रियामप्रियवादिनीम्।।।।तां हि वज्रसमां वाचमाकर्ण्य हृदयाप्रियाम्।दुःखशोकमयीं घोरां राजा न सुखितोऽभवत्।।।।
praikṣatānimiṣo devīṃ priyām apriyavādinīm |
tāṃ hi vajrasamāṃ vācam ākarṇya hṛdayāpriyām |
duḥkhaśokamayīṃ ghorāṃ rājā na sukhito 'bhavat ||
The king stared unblinking at the queen—beloved, yet speaking what was unpleasing. For having heard her words, harsh as a thunderbolt and painful to the heart, dread and filled with grief and sorrow, he could find no happiness.
The unhappy king intently fixed his gaze at his beloved queen speaking unpleasant words charged with grief and anguish, unpleasant to the heart like the dreadful thunderbolt.
Speech is an ethical act: dharma includes vāṅ-niyama (discipline of speech). Words that are ‘vajra-like’ and heart-wounding create adharma through harm, even before physical actions occur.
Daśaratha, overwhelmed, can only stare at Kaikeyī as her demand lands like a blow; he is robbed of peace by the dreadfulness of her words.
Daśaratha’s tenderness and capacity for attachment (priya-bhāva) is highlighted; the tragedy is that love coexists with the pain caused by unrighteous speech.