Shloka 2.35.20
सुमन्त्रस्य कैकेयी-निन्दा (Sumantra’s Reproof of Kaikeyi in the Royal Assembly)
ततो जृम्भस्य शयने विरुताद्भूरिवर्चसः।पितुस्ते विदितो भाव स्स तत्र बहुधाऽहसत्।।2.35.20।।
tatra te jananī kruddhā mṛtyu-pāśam abhīpsatī |
hāsaṃ te nṛpate saumya jijñāsāmīti cābravīt ||2.35.21||
At that, your mother—angered and as though courting the noose of death—said, “O gentle king, I wish to know the reason for your laughter.”
Then one day near his bed your highly brilliant father laughed repeatedly over what an ant or a bird said, for he knew the meaning from its sound.
Dharma in relationships requires honest communication tempered by compassion; suspicion and anger distort truth-seeking into coercion.
In the backstory, Kaikeyi’s mother confronts her husband, demanding the cause of his laughter after he understood an animal’s speech through a boon.
The virtue is indirectly highlighted by contrast: the episode warns against impulsive anger and the erosion of trust, both enemies of dharmic household harmony.