Valmiki Ramayana 2.12.44: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 12, Shloka 44
द्वादशः सर्गः · Kaikeyi’s Boons and Dasaratha’s Moral Collapse
Ayodhya Kanda 12
Spoken by Kaikeyi to DasharathaSetting: Ayodhya (palace)Places named: Ocean (as exemplar)
सागरस्समयं कृत्वा न वेलामतिवर्तते ।
समयं माऽनृतं कार्षीः पूर्ववृत्तमनुस्मरन् ॥४४॥
sāgaraḥ samayaṃ kṛtvā na velām ativartate |
samayaṃ mā anṛtaṃ kārṣīḥ pūrvavṛttam anusmaran ||44||
समुंदर कभी किनारे से बाहर नहीं जाता। उसने अपनी हद रख ली है। पहले के राजा लोग भी वादा निभाते थे। तुम भी अपना वादा मत तोड़ो। याद रखो, बड़े लोग क्या करते थे।
Sandhi Notes
- राज्येऽभिषिच्य = राज्ये + अभिषिच्य
- रन्तुमिच्छसि = रन्तुम् + इच्छसि
Having made the vow (to the gods), the ocean does not advance beyond the shore. Recollect the history of the earlier kings and do not make the vow false.
The teaching
Like the ocean that does not cross its boundary after making a compact, one should not violate a pledge; dharma is boundary-keeping.
Duties in tension
- Keeping one’s pledged word (samaya/satya)
- Managing personal grief and attachment
- Upholding ancestral royal precedent (pūrvavṛtta)
- Ethical theme
- Satya / maryādā / rāja-dharma
- How it resolves
- Nature metaphor and ancestral precedent to enforce satya
For your practice
Contemplation on maryādā: keep self-imposed vows and ethical boundaries steadily, like nature’s order.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Shanta (peace), with Bhayanaka (fear)
- Mood
- Grave, didactic, steadfast
Themes
- Satya
- Dharma
- Vow-keeping
- Cosmic order
- Itihasa
Maryādā as self-restraint: the disciplined mind, like the ocean, holds to its boundary; truth is inner order.
Ethic of satya and niyama (self-regulation) as supports for steadiness and clarity.
- Kaikeyi and Dasharatha
- Queen urging king to keep compact like the ocean (admonishing)
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Yuddhakāṇḍa: the ocean as a moral agent responding to Rāma (ocean episode); Mahābhārata: metaphors of maryādā and vow-keeping; ocean/shore imagery for restraint; Rāmacaritamānasa: maryādā and satya as kingly virtues
Vedic/Itihāsa motif of r̥ta as boundary-keeping order in nature
2.12.40-43 (same argumentative chain: public scrutiny, gratitude, stain, exempla)
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Solemn
Madhyama (middle register)
FAQs
Satya is aligned with cosmic order: even nature (the ocean’s boundary) models restraint and fidelity; a king must be at least as steady in keeping a pledge.
Kaikeyī uses an analogy and royal precedent to insist Daśaratha must not violate his promised boons.
Steadfastness (dhṛti) in honoring commitments—especially commitments publicly and solemnly made.
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