Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 3
दोहा 26
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।
यह सुनि मन गुनि सपथ बड़ि बिहसि उठी मतिमंद।भूषन सजति बिलोकि मृगु मनहुँ किरातिनि फंद।।26।।
yaha suni mana guni sapatha baṛi bihasi uṭhī matimaṁda |bhūṣana sajati biloki mṛgu manahũ kirātini phaṁda ||26||
ये सब सुन के, और अपने मन में सोच के कि उस कसम का कितना बड़ा वजन है, समझदार नहीं थी कैकेयी, मुस्कुरा के उठी। अपने जेवर पहन लिए, जैसे कोई शिकारी हिरन देख लिया हो और फंदा लगाए।
Speaker
Tulsidas (narrator)
Listener
General audience
Karuna (with Bhayanaka undertone)
The scene
The prasanga
In Ayodhya Kanda, King Dasharatha has bound himself with a solemn oath to grant Kaikeyi whatever she likes and has urged her to cast off her sullen state and dress in her ornaments. Kaikeyi weighs the force of that oath and rises smiling to put on her jewels. Her smile and adornment are a trap, not a sign of reconciliation.
The teaching
- Themes
- शपथ और वचन की मर्यादा, कपट और छल, कैकेयी की मतिमंदता, मुस्कान के पीछे छिपा जाल, आभूषण और बाहरी दिखावा, राजा का भोला विश्वास
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
The verse shows how a ruler's sworn word can be turned into a weapon when a spouse or counsellor acts from self-interest. Ramrajya requires that rulers weigh promises before giving them, and that those close to power use their trust honestly and not as a lure. A household built on deception endangers the kingdom.
Nirguna and saguna
The verse is wholly human and worldly, yet it turns on a sworn word, which shows that a binding truth stands behind speech. The abstract principle of satya becomes concrete in an oath, and in the ornaments and smile that hide a snare, so the formless law of truth acts through manifest persons and gestures.
Hearing the king's words and weighing in her mind how heavy his oath is, the dull-witted Kaikeyi rises with a smile and begins to put on her ornaments. The poet likens her to a huntress who has sighted a deer and sets her snare. The smile and the adornment are not signs of joy but part of a design, and the simile makes the king the unwary quarry. Traditional commentators read this as the quiet turn where the oath, meant for love, becomes the lever of her plan. The verse prepares the reader for the sorrow that follows.
Doha (13/11 matra pattern). Line 1: यह सुनि मन गुनि सपथ बड़ि (13) + बिहसि उठी मतिमंद (11). Line 2: भूषन सजति बिलोकि मृगु (13) + मनहुँ किरातिनि फंद (11). The lines rhyme at their ends, मतिमंद and फंद.
Utpreksha: the word 'मनहुँ' makes Kaikeyi's adorning herself a fancied huntress setting a snare for a sighted deer. Upama-like comparison: Kaikeyi is the huntress, her ornaments the snare, Dasharatha the deer. Vyanjana or dhvani: the smile 'बिहसि' suggests concealed intent beyond its plain sense. Anuprasa: repeated m, b and s sounds in 'मन', 'मति', 'मनहुँ', 'बड़ि', 'बिहसि', 'बिलोकि', 'सपथ', 'सजति'. Shleshaprabha: 'सजति' carries both putting on ornaments and setting a trap.
In Tulsidas's Vishishtadvaita-leaning reading, Kaikeyi's clouded intellect (mati-manda) and her scheming still move within the Lord's larger design. Even this deceit cannot step outside the divine will, though she is answerable for her own choice. The verse shows jiva-buddhi acting under the pull of maya while the sovereign purpose goes on unseen behind it.
Raga Marwa, whose restless, unresolved turns and evening gravity suit a smile that hides a snare and the dread it foretells.
यह | सुनि | मन | गुनि | सपथ | बड़ि | बिहसि | उठी | मति-मंद |
भूषन | सजति | बिलोकि | मृगु | मनहुँ | किरातिनि | फंद ||
- सपथ
- शपथ, कसमOrigin: Sanskrit
- मतिमंद
- मंद बुद्धि वाली, कम समझ वालीOrigin: Sanskrit
- भूषन
- आभूषण, गहनेOrigin: Sanskrit
- किरातिनि
- किरात (शिकारी) जाति की स्त्री, व्याधिनीOrigin: Sanskrit
- फंद
- फंदा, जालOrigin: Awadhi
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The tatsama words 'भूषन', 'मतिमंद', 'किरातिनि' and 'सपथ' (from shapatha) set the household scene in the register of learned verse. The plain verbs 'सुनि', 'गुनि', 'बिहसि', 'उठी' keep it in the speech of ordinary people. Placing the Sanskrit-derived 'मतिमंद' beside the folk image of a huntress sets a moral verdict from the scriptural tradition on a domestic moment. A quarrel between a king and his queen is thus read as an event of dharma.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- This verse does not argue the Nama-Rupa doctrine directly, but it shows the force of a sworn word. Kaikeyi pauses at the 'बड़ि सपथ', so the spoken word is shown to bind both swearer and hearer. The Form, here her jewels and smile, is only outward show, and the real work is done by the word. This fits Tulsidas's wider teaching that the Name carries a power that outward appearances do not.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- The phrase 'मन गुनि' places the action in the mind, where Kaikeyi weighs the oath before she moves. Her smooth smile on the surface and the snare below it echo the Manas image of a still surface over hidden depths. The hunting simile comes from the poet's own observation of village and forest life, flowing freely into the story. The mind of the poet is the lake in which such images gather and then rise into the verse.
FAQs
राजा की बात सुनकर और उसकी बड़ी शपथ को मन में तौलकर कैकेयी समझ लेती है कि अब राजा वचन से बँध गया है। इसीलिए वह बिहसि उठी, यानी मुस्कुराकर उठ खड़ी होती है। यह मुस्कान सच्ची प्रसन्नता की नहीं, बल्कि छिपे हुए इरादे की है।
कैकेयी को किरातिनि (शिकारिन) जैसा और आभूषण सजने को फंद लगाने जैसा बताया गया है। मृग यहाँ दशरथ का प्रतीक है, जो भोलेपन से जाल की ओर बढ़ रहा है। 'मनहुँ' शब्द से यह उत्प्रेक्षा अलंकार बनता है।
कवि ने उसे मतिमंद इसलिए कहा है कि उसकी बुद्धि मंथरा की सीख से ढक गई है और वह उचित-अनुचित का विवेक खो बैठी है। वह शपथ के भार को तो तौलती है, पर उसका उपयोग अपने स्वार्थ के लिए करती है। यह शब्द कवि का नैतिक निर्णय है, जो आने वाले दुख की ओर संकेत करता है।
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