Valmiki Ramayana 2.18.9: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 18, Shloka 9
अष्टादशः सर्गः · Kaikeyī Discloses the Boons: Exile to Daṇḍaka and Bharata’s Consecration
Spoken by RamaSetting: Ayodhya palace (private audience context)
अन्यदा मां पिता दृष्ट्वा कुपितोऽपि प्रसीदति ।
तस्य मामद्य संप्रेक्ष्य किमायासः प्रवर्तते ॥९॥
anyadā māṃ pitā dṛṣṭvā kupito 'pi prasīdati |
tasya mām adya saṃprekṣya kim āyāsaḥ pravartate ||9||
बाकी टाइम जब भी पापा गुस्से में होते थे, मुझे देख के शांत हो जाते थे। आज वो मुझे देख के भी परेशान क्यों हैं? उनका चेहरा इतना दुखी क्यों है? क्या हो गया इन्हें आज?
Sandhi Notes
- कुपितोऽपि = कुपितः + अपि
- मामद्य = माम् + अद्य
- किमायासः = किम् + आयासः
On other occasions even though angry he would feel pleased. But today why does he feel sad even after seeing me?
The teaching
Even love that usually pacifies cannot avert a dharma-crisis once vows and truth bind the elder; the wise inquire gently and prepare to accept duty.
Duties in tension
- Dasharatha’s duty to uphold truth/boons given to Kaikeyī vs duty to secure Rama’s rightful coronation and protect family welfare
- Rama’s duty of filial obedience vs expectation of kingship and public welfare
- Ethical theme
- Satya-vrata vs putra-dharma / rāja-dharma
- How it resolves
- Incipient (conflict recognized, not yet resolved in this verse)
For your practice
Models compassionate inquiry and steadiness when a loved one’s mind changes; practice of respectful speech (mādhurya) amid anxiety.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Bhayanaka (fear)
- Mood
- Foreboding, worried, tender
Themes
- Dharma
- Pitṛbhakti
- Ethics
- Itihasa
- Satya
The shock of unexpected sorrow amid expected joy mirrors the world’s anityatā; reliance on external conditions is unstable, urging inner steadiness.
Anityatā and the turn from pleasant to unpleasant recalls the Upaniṣadic push from preyas to śreyas (conceptual).
- Rama and Dasharatha
- Son concerned for father’s distress (anxious, tenderness). Father’s affection that usually pacifies anger (affectionate, but, troubled)
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.18 (Rāma’s inquiry into Daśaratha’s altered state, immediate context); Mahābhārata (sons perceiving fathers’ hidden grief before calamity—generic thematic parallel)
Upaniṣadic preyas/śreyas tension (thematic)
2.19.37 (Rāma’s maintained cheerfulness despite ominous signs); 2.20+ (Kaikeyī’s boons leading to exile—narrative continuation)
Anuṣṭup
Grieving
Lower register with plaintive glide on 'kim āyāsaḥ pravartate'
FAQs
Filial dharma: Rama’s first response to a change in the king’s demeanor is concern and inquiry, reflecting responsibility toward a parent’s well-being.
Rama notices Dasharatha’s unusual sorrow despite seeing him and wonders about its cause.
Sensitivity and pitṛbhakti (devoted attentiveness to one’s father), joined with a truthful desire to understand what is wrong.
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