Valmiki Ramayana 2.9.64: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 9, Shloka 64
मन्थराप्रेरणा · वरद्वय-स्मरणं च
Manthara’s Provocation and the Recalling of Two Boons
Spoken by Kaikeyi to DasharathaSetting: Ayodhya (palace; Kaikeyī’s quarters)Places named: vana (forest)Foreshadowed: departure to forest (vana)
अहं हि नैवास्तरणानि न स्रजो न चन्दनं नाञ्जनपानभोजनम् ।
न किञ्चिदिच्छामि न चेह जीवितं न चेदितो गच्छति राघवो वनम् ॥६४॥
ahaṃ hi naivāstaraṇāni na srajo na candanaṃ nāñjana-pāna-bhojanam |
na kiñcid icchāmi na ceha jīvitaṃ na ced ito gacchati rāghavo vanam ||64||
अगर राम जंगल नहीं जाता, तो मैं कुछ नहीं चाहती। न बिस्तर, न फूलों की माला, न चंदन, न कजल, न खाना-पीना। मैं अपनी जान भी नहीं चाहती।
Sandhi Notes
- naivāstaraṇāni→na eva āstaraṇāni
- srajōna→srajaḥ na
- nāñjana-→na añjana-
- kiñcidicchāmi→kiñcit icchāmi
- cēha→ca iha
- cēditō→cet ito
If Rama does not go from here to the forest, I want neither a bed nor garlands nor sandalpaste nor unguents nor food nor water nor even life.
The teaching
Austerity used as leverage is not tapas but a weapon; dharma requires purity of intention.
Duties in tension
- Self-preservation and truthfulness vs coercive vow
- Queenly responsibility vs personal desire
- Ahimsā (non-harm) vs willingness to cause suffering through threats
- Ethical theme
- Niyama/tapas (misapplied) and rājadharma
For your practice
Discern true vairāgya from performative renunciation; cultivate satya and ahiṃsā in resolve.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Bhayanaka (fear), with Karuna (compassion)
- Mood
- Unyielding, desperate, austere
Themes
- Dharma
- Satya
- Maryada
- Ethics
External renunciation without inner purification is only a change of objects; bondage remains in the demand.
Echo of the theme that prāṇa (life) is not to be gambled for worldly ends; here life is threatened for political desire.
- Kaikeyi and Rama
- Stepmother issuing ultimatum; exile demand (hostile/coercive)
- Kaikeyi and Manthara
- Queen aligning with instigator; vow as leverage (determined complicity)
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.10 (Kaikeyī’s insistence before Daśaratha); Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.12-2.13 (Daśaratha’s collapse; the vow’s consequences)
Dharmaśāstra discussions of prāyopaveśa (conceptual contrast: legitimate vs coercive)
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: Kaikeyī’s 'anāhāra' posture in the anger-chamber motif
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Commanding (vow-like)
Firm, clipped cadence; pause after each negation 'na ... na ...'
FAQs
Kaikeyī frames her demand as non-negotiable: unless Rāma goes to the forest, she rejects all comforts and even life. This intensifies the pressure on Daśaratha to keep his earlier promise, making satya (keeping one’s word) the central ethical constraint.
The verse dramatizes a conflict of dharmas: personal desire and coercion versus the king’s duty to uphold truth and royal integrity. It sets the stage for Daśaratha’s anguish and Rāma’s later choice to protect dharma by honoring his father’s pledged word.
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