Valmiki Ramayana 2.75.51: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 75, Shloka 51
अयोध्याकाण्डे पञ्चसप्ततितमः सर्गः
Sarga 75: Bharata and Kausalya · Reproach, Oaths, and Reconciliation
Spoken by Bharata to KausalyaSetting: Ayodhyā (implied)
मायया रमतां नित्यं परुषः पिशुनोऽशुचिः ।
राज्ञो भीतस्त्वधर्मात्मा यस्यार्योऽनुमते गतः ॥५१॥
māyayā ramatāṃ nityaṃ paruṣaḥ piśuno 'śuciḥ |
rājño bhītas tv adharmātmā yasya āryo 'numate gataḥ ||51||
जिस आदमी की मर्ज़ी से मेरा भाई वनवास गया, वो धोखे से काम चलाता है। वो बात में कड़क है, बुरा सोचता है, साफ़ नहीं है। उसका दिल में धरम नहीं है। वो राजा से डरता रहता है कि कहीं पकड़ा न जाए।
Sandhi Notes
- पिशुनोऽशुचिः = पिशुनः + अशुचिः (विसर्ग-लोप)
- भीतस्त्वधर्मात्मा = भीतः + तु + अधर्मात्मा
- यस्यार्योऽनुमते = यस्य + आर्यः + अनुमते
May the one who counselled the exile of my esteemed brother acquire the sin in the same way as a person, who is abusive, niggardly, impure, unrighteous and always afraid of being caught by the king, and lives by cheating others, acquires!
The teaching
Deceit and malice corrode inner purity and generate fear; adharma makes one perpetually anxious before authority and conscience.
Duties in tension
- Political expediency via deceit vs satya and śauca (truth and purity)
- Fear-driven self-preservation vs righteous accountability
- Ethical theme
- Sadācāra (right conduct) / rājadharma
- How it resolves
- Ethical denunciation (nindā) as social correction
For your practice
Encourages śauca (purity), satya, and ahiṃsā in speech; warns against pīśunatā and parūṣya.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Raudra (fury), with Bibhatsa (disgust)
- Mood
- Scornful, searing, denunciatory
Themes
- Dharma
- Satya
- Ethics
- Itihasa
- Condemnation of deceit
- Royal justice
Avidyā expressed as māyā in conduct: deception veils truth and breeds fear; satya-śuddhi is prerequisite for inner peace.
Kaṭha’s contrast of śreyas vs preyas: the condemned figure chooses crooked preyas (deceit) leading to fear and downfall.
- Bharata and Rama
- Brothers; Bharata’s reverent address 'ārya' (loyal grief with righteous indignation)
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.75.49-52
Dharma literature: condemnation of pīśunatā (slander) and parūṣya (harshness) as social sins; Rāmacaritamānasa: denunciations of Mantharā/Kaikeyī’s crooked counsel (conceptual parallel)
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: Mantharā’s role as pīśunā-like instigator (thematic resonance)
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Commanding
Ucca (high) on the string of epithets, then a firm avarohana at 'yasyāryo’numate gataḥ'
FAQs
Dharma rejects deceit, malice, and impurity of conduct; a life built on trickery and fear of lawful authority is portrayed as intrinsically self-condemning.
Bharata continues his denunciation, comparing the approver of Rama’s exile to an archetypal wrongdoer who survives by fraud and lives in constant dread of justice.
Moral clarity: Bharata identifies adharma not only as a single act but as a corrupt disposition—cruelty, slander, and deception.
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