Shloka 2.12.78
द्वादशः सर्गः — Kaikeyi’s Boons and Dasaratha’s Moral Collapse (Ayodhya Kanda 12)
अनार्य इति मामार्याः पुत्रविक्रायकं ध्रुवम्।धिक्करिष्यन्ति रथ्यासु सुरापं ब्राह्मणं यथा।।।।
anārya iti mām āryāḥ putravikrāyakaṁ dhruvam | dhikkariṣyanti rathyāsu surāpaṁ brāhmaṇaṁ yathā ||
On the public roads, respectable people will surely denounce me as ‘base’—as though I had sold my own son—just as they would revile a brahmin who drinks liquor.
Respectable people on the highway will certainly say 'He sold away his son' and censure me as a mean person like a brahmin consuming liquor.
Rajadharma includes moral accountability before society; actions perceived as betrayal of parental duty and justice invite public condemnation.
Daśaratha foresees disgrace if he sends Rāma away, imagining people equating it with the gravest social transgressions.
The virtue emphasized is responsibility: a king and father must protect his son and uphold ethical norms, not act under coercion or delusion.