Valmiki Ramayana 2.12.97: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 12, Shloka 97
द्वादशः सर्गः · Kaikeyi’s Boons and Dasaratha’s Moral Collapse
Ayodhya Kanda 12
Spoken by King DaśarathaSetting: Ayodhyā (palace; imagining the forest)Places named: mahāraṇya (great forest)Projected exile route into wilderness
कथं रथैर्विभुर्यात्वा गजाश्वैश्च मुहुर्मुहुः ॥९७॥
पद्भ्यां रामो महारण्ये वत्सो मे विचरिष्यति ।
kathaṃ rathairvibhuryātvā gajāśvaiśca muhurmuhuḥ ||97||
padbhyāṃ rāmo mahāraṇye vatso me vicariṣyati |
मेरा बेटा राम रथ में घूमता था, हाथी पे सवार होता था, घोड़े पे जाता था। अब वो बड़े जंगल में पैदल कैसे चलेगा? उसके पाँव में चलेगा, उसकी क्या हालत होगी?
Sandhi Notes
- रथैर्विभुः = रथैः + विभुः
- विभुर्यात्वा = विभुः + यात्वा
- गजाश्वैश्च = गजाश्वैः + च
How will my son, Rama, who used to ride on chariots, elephants and horses roam the wilderness barefoot?
The teaching
Dharma may demand personal hardship; love grieves, yet the righteous path often proceeds without external comforts.
Duties in tension
- King/father's duty to protect son from hardship
- Rāma's duty to obey father's word and uphold truth/boon-driven command
- Ethical theme
- Filial obedience and truth vs parental protection
- How it resolves
- Acceptance deferred (lament before compliance)
For your practice
Meditation on Rāma as ideal of endurance and dharma; inspires willingness to bear discomfort for truth.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Bhayanaka (fear)
- Mood
- Tender, anxious, heartbroken
Themes
- Dharma
- Ethics
- Compassion
- Parental duty
- Exile
Shift from external supports (vehicles, royal power) to inner strength; anticipates the movement from dependence to self-masteryőa practical arc toward vairāgya and tapas.
Araṇyaka resonance: forest as locus of inner inquiry; though framed as suffering, the araṇya also hints at the contemplative ideal of vanaprastha.
- Dasharatha and Rama
- Father-son; tender concern (protective grief)
- Rama and Forest
- Civilized prince vs harsh wilderness (anticipated) (anxious (projected))
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.16-2.18 (preparations for exile; forest life); Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.1+ (Araṇyakāṇḍa: actual forest wandering)
Vedic/Araṇyaka tradition of the forest as a space of austerity (cultural allusion)
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: Daśaratha repeatedly calls Rāma 'vatṣa' and laments his hardship
Anuṣṭubh
Grieving
Soft kampita on 'vatso me'; descending cadence to convey helplessness
FAQs
Dharma is inseparable from compassion: a righteous order should not impose needless suffering on the innocent, especially the worthy.
Daśaratha imagines the physical hardship awaiting Rāma in exile and grieves over the reversal of his son’s royal life.
Daśaratha’s parental love and protective instinct, which also reflects the king’s duty to safeguard the deserving.
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