Shloka 3
रावणस्य तर्जनं सीताया धर्मोक्तिः
Ravana’s Threats and Sita’s Dharma-Centered Reply
सन्नियच्छति मे क्रोधं त्वयि कामः समुत्थितः।द्रवतोऽमार्गमासाद्य हयानिव सुसारथिः।।।।
sanniyacchati me krodhaṃ tvayi kāmaḥ samutthitaḥ |
dravato 'mārgam āsādya hayān iva susārathiḥ ||
Mi deseo por ti contiene mi ira, como un hábil auriga refrena a los caballos que, corriendo velozmente, se han desviado a un camino errado.
He was comparable to the wish-fulfilling tree grown in heaven, a personified spring season and a memorial structure raised on the cremation ground. He looked frightening even though well-adorned.
FAQs
It indirectly highlights the need for self-control: powerful impulses (desire or anger) must be governed like horses by a charioteer. However, in context Rāvaṇa’s ‘restraint’ is not dharmic; it serves an adharma-driven obsession rather than righteousness.
In Aśoka-vana, Rāvaṇa addresses Sītā, attempting to sway her; he claims his desire for her checks his anger even as she resists him.
The verse uses the ideal of restraint (dama/saṃyama) as an image, though it is spoken by Rāvaṇa and thus functions as rhetorical persuasion rather than genuine virtue.