Ramayana — Sundara Kanda, Sarga 9, Shloka 68
पुष्पकविमानवर्णनम्
Description of the Pushpaka Vimana and Ravana’s Inner Palace
राजर्षिपितृदैत्यानां गन्धर्वाणां च योषितः।राक्षसानां च याः कन्यास्तस्य कामवशं गताः।।5.9.68।।
rājarṣi-pitṛ-daityānāṃ gandharvāṇāṃ ca yoṣitaḥ |
rākṣasānāṃ ca yāḥ kanyās tasya kāmavaśaṃ gatāḥ || 5.9.68 ||
Women of the lines of royal seers, the Pitṛs, the Daityas, and the Gandharvas—and even maidens of the rākṣasas—had come under the sway of his desire.
When Ravana was happily asleep, the gods of light burning on the gold lamp-posts gazed without winking as it were, at the women, whom they dare not gaze for fear of waking Ravana.
FAQs
The verse underscores kāma’s power to subjugate across worlds and lineages; the Ramayana’s dharmic teaching is that desire, when unruled by truth and restraint, becomes a force of bondage and wrongdoing.
Hanumān’s observation expands to the diverse origins of the women associated with Rāvaṇa, stressing the breadth of his influence and indulgence.
By contrast, the virtue is self-mastery: the dharmic ideal embodied by Rāma (and served by Hanumān) stands opposed to domination by desire.