HomeRamayanaKishkindha KandaSarga 24Shloka 4.24.37
Previous Verse
Next Verse

Shloka 4.24.37

वालिवधोत्तरशोकः — Sugriva’s Remorse and Tara’s Lament after Vali’s Death

यच्चापि मन्येत भवान्महात्मास्त्रीघातदोषो न भवेत्तु मह्यम्।आत्मेयमस्येति च मां जहि त्वंन स्त्रीवधस्स्यान्मनुजेन्द्रपुत्र।।।।

yac cāpi manyeta bhavān mahātmā strīghātadoṣo na bhavet tu mahyam | ātmeyam asyeti ca māṃ jahi tvaṃ na strīvadhassyān manujendraputra ||

And if you, great-souled prince, should fear the fault of slaying a woman—let that not apply here. Kill me, thinking, ‘She is his very self’; it will not be counted as woman-slaying, O son of the lord of men.

'O prince! as you are great, you might think of the blemish of killing a woman. Since Tara is Vali's soul, you may kill me. It will not amount to killing a woman.(You will only be killing the soul of Vali by killing Tara).

T
Tārā
R
Rāma
V
Vāli

It debates moral culpability (doṣa) and whether intention/relationship can alter ethical classification—showing how dharma is argued through śāstric categories.

Tārā anticipates Rāma’s hesitation about harming a woman and tries to remove that objection.

Rāma’s moral caution is implied; Tārā responds with a (contested) ethical reasoning to persuade him.