Shloka 2.12.57
द्वादशः सर्गः — Kaikeyi’s Boons and Dasaratha’s Moral Collapse (Ayodhya Kanda 12)
शीलव्यसनमेतत्ते नाभिजानाम्यहं पुरा।।।।बालायास्तत्त्वितिदानीं ते लक्षये विपरीतवत्।
śīlavyasanam etat te nābhijānāmy ahaṃ purā | bālāyās tat tv idānīṃ te lakṣaye viparītavat ||
I never knew before that you had this corruption of character—not when you were young; but now I see it in you, as though everything were reversed.
I never knew earlier when you were young that you possessed such perverse behaviour. But now I perceive the reverse (of what I knew).
The verse frames dharma as rooted in stable character (śīla); moral collapse is seen as a reversal from earlier virtue.
Daśaratha, devastated by Kaikeyī’s demands, rebukes her by contrasting her earlier nature with her present stance.
Constancy of character and compassion are implied virtues; their absence is what Daśaratha laments.