Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 3
सोरठा 25
यह सोपान ‘धर्म-राज्य’ के द्वार पर ‘मोह-राज्य’ की परीक्षा है: जहाँ रामराज्य का उत्सव (सगुण-लीला) भीतर ही भीतर काम–क्रोध–कपट की आँधी से टकराता है। साधक के लिए यह चरण बताता है कि मुक्ति का मार्ग केवल बाह्य शुभ-घटना नहीं, बल्कि मन के ‘कोपभवन’ में उठती वासनाओं का विवेकपूर्वक निराकरण है।
बार बार कह राउ सुमुखि सुलोचिनि पिकबचनि।कारन मोहि सुनाउ गजगामिनि निज कोप कर।।25।।
bāra bāra kaha rāu sumukhi sulocini pikabacani |kārana mohi sunāu gajagāmini nija kopa kara ||25||
राजा बार बार बोले, अरे सुंदर चेहरा वाली, प्यारी आँखों वाली जिसकी आवाज़ कोएल जैसी है, अरे हाथी की तरह चलने वाली, बताओ मुझे तुम गुस्से में क्यों हो।
Speaker
Dasharatha (the king)
Listener
Kaikeyi
Karuna (with a Shringara undertone of tender appeasement)
The scene
The prasanga
In the Ayodhya Kanda, Kaikeyi lies in anger, and Dasharatha, who does not yet know why she is upset, tries to win her round. Using a string of endearing epithets, he asks her again and again to tell him the cause of her anger.
The teaching
- Themes
- पति-पत्नी का प्रेम और मनुहार, क्रोध का कारण जानने की व्याकुलता, राजा की मोहग्रस्तता, सम्बोधन और विशेषणों का सौंदर्य, गृहस्थ जीवन की मर्यादा, अयोध्याकांड का करुण प्रसंग
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
A king should ask for the cause before acting, and should listen patiently to the grievance of a member of his household. The verse also hints at the danger of a ruler whose affection for one person clouds his judgement, which Ramrajya's ideal of impartial, dharma-guided kingship warns against.
Nirguna and saguna
The verse is wholly human drama, with no mention of the Lord. Yet its ordinary scene of a husband entreating an angry wife is the very ground on which the formless divine purpose works through manifest, embodied events. The Saguna lila unfolds through such everyday human feeling.
Dasharatha, seeing Kaikeyi in her anger-chamber, addresses her with a series of tender epithets: fair-faced, lovely-eyed, sweet-voiced, and elegant in gait. Again and again he asks only one thing, that she tell him the reason for her anger. The commentators note the king's complete devotion to his queen and his readiness to give in to her, which prepares the ground for the events that follow. The repeated 'बार बार' reveals his anxiety, and the string of praises shows how love and attachment have softened his authority as a ruler.
Soratha (11/13 matra pattern per line, with the rhyme at the middle: राउ / सुनाउ). Line 1: 'बार बार कह राउ' (11) + 'सुमुखि सुलोचिनि पिकबचनि' (13). Line 2: 'कारन मोहि सुनाउ' (11) + 'गजगामिनि निज कोप कर' (13).
Veepsa/Punarukti in 'बार बार' (repetition showing earnestness). Anupras (alliteration) in 'सुमुखि सुलोचिनि' and in the repeated 'ग' and 'न' sounds of 'गजगामिनि'. Lupta Upama (implied comparison) in 'पिकबचनि' (voice like a cuckoo's) and 'गजगामिनि' (gait like an elephant's). Sambodhan (direct address) through the three-fold vocative epithets. Antya/madhya-yamak (middle rhyme) in 'राउ' and 'सुनाउ', which is a feature of the Soratha.
In the Vishishtadvaita reading, the jiva remains bound by attachment and under the Lord's overarching will. Dasharatha's pleading, steeped in love for his queen, shows a soul whose affection narrows its vision. The verse shows the human side of this bondage and does not state a doctrine directly.
Raga Bhairavi, whose tender, plaintive character suits the king's anxious and affectionate entreaty.
बार | बार | कह | राउ | सु-मुखि | सु-लोचिनि | पिक-बचनि |
कारन | मोहि | सुनाउ | गज-गामिनि | निज | कोप | कर ||
- राउ
- राजाOrigin: Awadhi
- सुलोचिनि
- सुंदर नेत्रों वाली स्त्रीOrigin: Sanskrit
- पिकबचनि
- कोयल के समान मधुर वाणी वालीOrigin: Sanskrit
- गजगामिनि
- हाथी के समान मंद और सुंदर चाल वालीOrigin: Sanskrit
- कोप
- क्रोध, रोषOrigin: Sanskrit
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The vocatives सुमुखि, सुलोचिनि, पिकबचनि, गजगामिनि and the word कारन are tatsama words from Sanskrit, and they give the king's speech the refined poise of classical court poetry. Beside them stand plain Awadhi words such as राउ, मोहि, सुनाउ and बार बार, which keep the spoken warmth of the household. By joining the two registers within a single Soratha, Tulsidas lets an ordinary domestic plea carry the dignity of Shastric literature. The folk situation of a husband soothing an angry wife is thereby raised to a scene fit for epic.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- This verse does not state the doctrine directly. It does show the working of names in a small way: the king calls Kaikeyi by epithets such as सुमुखि and गजगामिनि, each of which evokes a feature of her form. These ornamental names please but do not move her, for her anger remains. The contrast suggests that a name has power only as far as the reality it points to, and that human flattery cannot dissolve a settled grief the way the divine Name is said to do elsewhere in the Manas.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- The Manas is imagined as a lake of clear water, and this couplet is a quiet ripple on its surface, holding a moment of human feeling. The mind that composed it moves easily between the courtly diction of the epithets and the plain speech of the request. The soratha's middle rhyme (राउ / सुनाउ) and the flowing repetition of 'बार बार' show a poet who shapes sound and sense together. The ordinary emotion of a king pleading is rendered with the same care as the loftier episodes.
FAQs
दशरथ बार-बार कैकेयी से आग्रह करते हैं कि वह अपने क्रोध का कारण उन्हें बताए। वे उसे सुमुखि, सुलोचिनि, पिकबचनि और गजगामिनि कहकर प्रेम से संबोधित करते हैं। इससे उनकी व्याकुलता और स्नेह दोनों प्रकट होते हैं।
'पिकबचनि' का अर्थ है कोयल जैसी मधुर वाणी वाली और 'गजगामिनि' का अर्थ है हाथी जैसी सुंदर चाल वाली। दोनों में उपमा का भाव छिपा है, इसलिए यहाँ लुप्तोपमा अलंकार माना जाता है। ये शब्द कैकेयी की प्रशंसा के लिए प्रयुक्त हुए हैं।
इस छंद की प्रत्येक पंक्ति में पहले 11 और फिर 13 मात्राएँ हैं, जो दोहे का उलटा क्रम है। साथ ही तुक पंक्ति के बीच में मिलती है, जैसे 'राउ' और 'सुनाउ'। इन्हीं लक्षणों के कारण इसे सोरठा कहा जाता है।
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