Valmiki Ramayana 2.41.8: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 41, Shloka 8
अयोध्यायाः शोकप्रकम्पः
Ayodhya’s Tremor of Grief and Omens
Setting: Ayodhyā inner palace (antaƲ5pura)Places named: Ayodhyā
स तमन्तः पुरे घोरमार्तशब्दं महीपतिः ।
पुत्रशोकाभिसन्तप्तः श्रुत्वा चासीत्सुदुःखितः ॥८॥
sa tam antaḥpure ghoraṃ ārtaśabdaṃ mahīpatiḥ |
putraśokābhisantaptaḥ śrutvā cāsīt suduḥkhitaḥ ||8||
राजा ने अंदर महल से चिल्लाने की आवाज़ सुनी। वो आवाज़ बहुत बुरी थी। राजा पहले से ही बेटे के दुख में था, और यह सुन के और भी दुखी हो गया।
Sandhi Notes
- sa tamantaḥpure = saḥ + tam + antaḥpure
- ghoramārtaśabdam = ghoram + ārtaśabdam
- śrutvā cāsīt = śrutvā + ca + āsīt
Upon hearing the dreadful wailing from the inner apartments of the palace, the king already devasted at the separation from his son, grew even more distressed.
The teaching
A ruler's private anguish becomes public disorder; dharma requires both truth and the capacity to bear its consequences wisely.
Duties in tension
- Keeping royal promise (satya)
- Protecting son and ensuring just succession
- Maintaining composure as king for stability of realm
- Ethical theme
- Rājadharma under duƲ5kha
- How it resolves
- Emotional collapse; dharma burden becomes personal suffering
For your practice
Meditation on the heat of grief and the need for inner steadiness; recitation can cultivate compassion for those bound by duty.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Bhayanaka (fear)
- Mood
- Dreadful, scorching, overwhelmed
Themes
- Itihāsa
- Śoka (grief)
- Consequences of vows
- Dharma tension
Grief as tāpa shows identification with roles (upādhi); the 'burning' indicates the mind caught in sasāric heat rather than ānti.
Echo of the triad of tāpas (adhyātmika) later systematized; here sorrow is an inner affliction consuming the ruler.
- Dasharatha and Rama
- Father grieving son (burning sorrow and guilt)
Vālmki Rāmāyaƺ 2.42.2+ (DaŚratha's continued collapse); Rāmacaritamānasa, Ayodhyākāƺ: DaŚratha hearing cries and fainting
Epic motif: king's sorrow mirrored by palace cries (Mahābhārata parallels in exile laments)
2.20-2.21 (DaŚratha's bondage to boons as seed of grief); 2.57 (DaŚratha's terminal lament for Rāma)
Anutup (loka)
Solemn, grieving narrative
Heavy gamaka on "ghoram" and "āst suduƲ5khitaƲ5" to convey weight
FAQs
It reveals the human cost when dharma is experienced as conflicting duties—Daśaratha’s obligation to keep a promise leads to unbearable personal and familial suffering.
Daśaratha hears the queens’ loud lamentation from within the palace and his grief intensifies.
Daśaratha’s inner struggle around duty and consequence, showing the weight of royal decisions and vowed commitments.
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