Shloka 2.24.27
कौशल्यारामसंवादः — Kausalya–Rama Dialogue on Exile-Dharma
शुश्रूषामेव कुर्वीत भर्तुः प्रियहिते रता।एष धर्मः पुरा दृष्टो लोके वेदे श्रुतः स्मृतः।।2.24.27।।
yasya bhṛtyāś ca dāsāś ca mṛṣṭāny annāni bhuñjate |
kathaṃ sa bhokṣyate ’nātho vane mūlaphalāny ayam || 2.24.3 ||
How will he—accustomed to servants and attendants enjoying exquisite foods—now live in the forest, eating only roots and fruits, bereft of support?
A wife who serves her husband and who is engaged in doing good to him is righteous. This dharma exists in this world since ancient times, declared in the Vedas and the smritis.
The verse foregrounds compassionate concern and the human cost of dharma-driven renunciation—Kauśalyā’s love measures the hardship Rāma will endure when he accepts exile.
In Ayodhyā, as Rāma prepares for forest exile, Kauśalyā laments how someone raised in royal comfort can subsist on austere forest fare.
Kauśalyā’s maternal compassion and protective anxiety—virtues that coexist with respect for Rāma’s dharmic resolve.