Valmiki Ramayana 2.18.23: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 18, Shloka 23
अष्टादशः सर्गः · Kaikeyī Discloses the Boons: Exile to Daṇḍaka and Bharata’s Consecration
Spoken by Kaikeyi to RamaSetting: Ayodhya (palace)
अतिसृज्य ददानीति वरं मम विशांपतिः ।
स निरर्थं गतजले सेतुं बन्धितुमिच्छति ॥२३॥
atisṛjya dadānīti varaṃ mama viśāṃpatiḥ |
sa nirarthaṃ gatajale setuṃ bandhitum icchati ||23||
राजा ने मुझे खुल के वरदान दिया था, बोला था मैं दूंगा। अब वो बेकार की कोशिश कर रहे हैं। जैसे कोई पानी सूख गए कुएं में सेतु बना रहे हो।
Sandhi Notes
- bandhitum + icchati → bandhitumicchati
The king bestowed on me boons saying, 'I shall grant you two boons'. But now he wishes in vain to build a dam when the water has run down.
The teaching
Timing and commitment matter: once a pledge is granted, trying to reverse it later is futile and dishonorable.
Duties in tension
- Keeping a freely given boon vs desire to retract due to changed feelings
- Royal integrity vs personal suffering
- Ethical theme
- Pratijñā-dharma / rāja-nīti
- How it resolves
- Metaphorical argument for irreversibility
For your practice
Reflect on consequences of vows; cultivate integrity and timely discernment (kāla-viveka).
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Raudra (fury), with Adbhuta (wonder)
- Mood
- Cutting, sarcastic, unyielding
Themes
- Dharma
- Satya
- Ethics
- Itihasa
- Oath and consequence
- Metaphor
Once saṅkalpa crystallizes into karma-phala, attempting to negate it is like building a setu after the river has dried—action without right timing (kāla) is futile.
Īśa Upanishad’s stress on right action in right measure; kāla and karma alignment (echo, not direct citation).
- Kaikeyi and Dasharatha
- Queen asserting king’s prior free grant; mocking his attempt to retract (adversarial)
- Dasharatha and Rama
- Father-son; king’s attempted reversal affects Rama’s fate (implied) (mixed)
- Kaikeyi and Rama
- Stepmother using metaphor to compel compliance (adversarial)
Valmiki Ramayana 2.18.22-24 (argument sequence on boon and truth)
Setu imagery elsewhere in Itihāsa: ‘setu’ as moral boundary/bridge (general dharma metaphor)
Ayodhya-kanda: repeated insistence that Dasharatha cannot retract the boon once granted
Anuṣṭup
Narrative
Madhyama with sharp cadences
FAQs
Once a vow/boon is granted, dharma treats it as binding; attempting to retract it afterward is portrayed as futile and improper.
Kaikeyī uses a striking metaphor to argue that Daśaratha cannot undo what he has already promised.
Steadfastness to one’s word (satya-niṣṭhā) is foregrounded—especially as a royal duty.
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