Valmiki Ramayana 2.20.46: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 20, Shloka 46
अयोध्याकाण्डे विंशः सर्गः · Rama Enters Kauśalyā’s Antaḥpura; Ritual Preparations and the Shock of Exile
Spoken by Kausalya to RamaSetting: Ayodhyā palace (antahpura)
तदक्षयं महद्दुःखं नोत्सहे सहितुं चिरम् ।
विप्रकारं सपत्नीनामेवं जीर्णाऽपि राघव ॥४६॥
tad akṣayaṃ mahad duḥkhaṃ notsahe sahituṃ ciram |
viprakāraṃ sapatnīnām evaṃ jīrṇāpi rāghava ||46||
रघव, मैं बुढ़ी हो गई हूँ। अब इतना बड़ा दुख और नहीं सहन होता। मेरी सौतन लोग मुझे बहुत सताते हैं, मैं और झेल नहीं पाऊँगी।
Sandhi Notes
- तदक्षयम् = तत् + अक्षयम्
- नोत्सहे = न + उत्सहे
- सपत्नीनामेवं = सपत्नीनाम् + एवम्
- जीर्णाऽपि = जीर्णा + अपि
Therefore, O Rama, I cannot at this old age endure this great, endless sorrow and the insults from co-wives for long.
The teaching
Worldly status is unstable; endurance (kṣamā/titikṣā) is tested most where honor is threatened.
Duties in tension
- Enduring humiliation to preserve household order
- Seeking protection/relief through Ramaḧ presence versus Ramaḧ obedience to royal command
- Ethical theme
- Gṛhastha-dharma under strain
- How it resolves
- Appeal to compassion; unresolved tension
For your practice
Practice of forbearance and non-reactivity amid insult; observing how ego-wounds amplify duḥkha.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Bhayanaka (fear)
- Mood
- Humiliated, exhausted, desperate
Themes
- Dharma
- Satya
- Endurance
- Household ethics
- Suffering
Akṣaya-duḥkha contrasts with the Vedāntic claim that sorrow ends with knowledge; here, avidyā is not the theme, but worldly entanglement (saṃsāra) is palpable.
The sense of being unable to 'endure' (sahituṃ) recalls titikṣā as a sādhana in later Vedāntic framing, though expressed as its failure under intense grief.
- Kausalya and Rama
- Mother-son; plea for relief/companionship (KaruŇa with urgency)
- Kausalya and Kaikeyi
- Co-wives (sapatnī) rivalry; humiliation inflicted (hurt/resentment)
- Kausalya and Sumitra
- Co-wives (sapatnī) as a category; implied palace hierarchy (strained/competitive (generalized))
- Kausalya and Dasharatha
- Wife-husband; implied failure of protection amid palace politics (grief-tinged disappointment (implicit))
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.20 (Kaushalyāḧ complaint of sapatnī-duḥkha); Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.12-2.14 (Kaikeyīḧ boons and palace political humiliation)
Mahābhārata: antahpura rivalries and sapatnī-vidveṣa motifs (general)
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: Kaikeyīḧ harsh speech and Kaushalyāḧ distress (nearby narrative)
Anuṣṭubh
Grieving
Karuṇa-rasa prayoga, madhyama-sthāna, slight kampita on dīrgha svaras
FAQs
It points to the limits of human endurance and the duty of compassion within family life; Dharma is violated when power is used to humiliate the vulnerable.
Kausalyā tells Rāma that the exile and the resulting social humiliation from rival queens have become unbearable, especially in her old age.
Vulnerability paired with truthfulness—she openly acknowledges her frailty rather than masking it with pride.
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