Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 4
चौपाई 31.1-4
त्याग-दीक्षा का सोपान: जहाँ ‘राज्य’ (भोग-धर्म) का मोह टूटकर ‘वन’ (वैराग्य-धर्म) का द्वार खुलता है। अयोध्या काण्ड साधक को यह सिखाता है कि धर्म केवल शुभ-घटना नहीं, बल्कि पीड़ा में सत्य-पालन, वचन-रक्षा, और ईश्वर-आज्ञा-स्वीकार की तपस्या है—यही मुक्ति-सीढ़ी का निर्णायक मोड़ है।
आगें दीखि जरत रिस भारी।मनहुँ रोष तरवारि उघारी।।
मूठि कुबुद्धि धार निठुराई।धरी कूबरीं सान बनाई।।
लखी महीप कराल कठोरा।सत्य कि जीवनु लेइहि मोरा।।
बोले राउ कठिन करि छाती।बानी सबिनय तासु सोहाती।।
प्रिया बचन कस कहसि कुभाँती।भीर प्रतीति प्रीति करि हाँती।।
मोरें भरतु रामु दुइ आँखी।सत्य कहउँ करि संकरू साखी।।
अवसि दूतु मैं पठइब प्राता।ऐहहिं बेगि सुनत दोउ भ्राता।।
सुदिन सोधि सबु साजु सजाई।देउँ भरत कहुँ राजु बजाई।।
āgeṁ dīkhi jarata risa bhārī |manahũ roṣa taravāri ughārī ||
mūṭhi kubuddhi dhāra niṭhurāī |dharī kūbarīṁ sāna banāī ||
lakhī mahīpa karāla kaṭhorā |satya ki jīvanu leihi morā ||
bole rāu kaṭhina kari chātī |bānī sabinaya tāsu sohātī ||
priyā bacana kasa kahasi kubhā̃tī |bhīra pratīti prīti kari hā̃tī ||
moreṁ bharatu rāmu dui ā̃khī |satya kahaũ kari saṁkarū sākhī ||
avasi dūtu maiṁ paṭhaiba prātā |aihahiṁ begi sunata dou bhrātā ||
sudina sodhi sabu sāju sajāī |deũ bharata kahũ rāju bajāī ||
राजा ने उसे सामने देखी, बहुत गुस्से में जलती हुई। जैसे गुस्से की खुली तलवार हो। तलवार की पकड़ बुरी समझ थी और धार बेदर्दी की। कुबरी ने उसे अपने पत्थर पर तेज़ करके तैयार किया। राजा ने उसे देखी, भयंकर और कठोर। सोचा, क्या सच में ये मेरी जान ले लेगी? राजा ने दिल स्ट्रॉंग करके नर्मी से बात की। ऐसे शब्द जो उसे पसंद आएँ। प्रिया, ऐसे बुरे शब्द क्यों बोलती हो? ये लोगों का भरोसा और हमारी मोहब्बत, दोनों को खत्म कर देते हैं। मेरे लिए भरत और राम मेरी दो आँखें हैं। मैं सच बोल रहा हूँ, शंकर को साक्षी मान कर। कल सुबह पक्का मैं दूत भेजूँगा। दोनों भाई सुनते ही जल्दी आ जाएँगे। अच्छा दिन देखकर सारी तैयारी करवाऊँगा। ढोल बजवा कर भरत को राज दूँगा।
Speaker
Tulsidas (narrator) in lines 1 to 3, then King Dasharatha in lines 4 to 8
Listener
General audience, then Queen Kaikeyi
Karuna (with Bhayanaka as the undertone and a touch of Vatsalya in the king's love for both sons)
The scene
The prasanga
Dasharatha, having come back to himself after being struck by Kaikeyi's demand, sees her blazing with anger before him and fears for his life. Hiding his fear, he speaks gently, protests his love for Rama and Bharata, and promises to summon Bharata and crown him.
The teaching
- Themes
- क्रोध की तलवार, कुमंत्रणा का प्रभाव, पत्नी के प्रति विनय, पुत्र-प्रेम और समदृष्टि, सत्य और शपथ, राजधर्म की मर्यादा
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
The verse shows the royal duty of satya (truthfulness) and of keeping the people's trust: the king answers a threat with restraint and humility, swears by a deity, and offers to act through the lawful steps of a messenger, an auspicious day and public proclamation. It also warns how a ruler's own promise can be used against him when he yields to the sway of a favoured queen.
Nirguna and saguna
The Lord is not named in the action here, yet Rama stands in the king's words as one of his 'two eyes', a personal, loved form. Dasharatha's appeal to Shankara as witness to his oath shows the divine presence that stands behind truth even when the speaker is in distress.
Dasharatha, recovering from the blow of Kaikeyi's demand, sees her before him burning with rage, and the poet pictures her wrath as a naked sword whose hilt is her evil counsel, whose edge is cruelty and which the Humpback has sharpened. Seeing her fierce and harsh, the king fears she will truly take his life. He steels his heart and speaks in humble words meant to please her, asking why she speaks so wickedly when her words destroy the people's trust and the love between them. He swears by Shankara that Bharata and Rama are alike his two eyes. He then promises to send a messenger at dawn, so that the brothers will come quickly, and to choose an auspicious day, make all preparations and give Bharata the kingdom with festive proclamation.
Chaupai (16 matras per line, 8 lines, in 4 rhyming couplets)
Utpreksha in 'मनहुँ रोष तरवारि उघारी' (anger imagined as a drawn sword, marked by 'मनहुँ'); Sangopanga Rupaka in lines 1 and 2, where anger is the sword, 'कुबुद्धि' its hilt, 'निठुराई' its edge, and the Humpback's whetting its sharpening; Rupaka in 'भरतु रामु दुइ आँखी' (the two sons as two eyes); Anupras (alliteration) in 'कराल कठोरा', 'कहसि कुभाँती' and 'सत्य कहउँ करि संकरू साखी'; Prashna (rhetorical question) in 'सत्य कि जीवनु लेइहि मोरा'
The verse is a human scene, but it shows Tulsidas's view of how a mind clouded by kubuddhi (evil counsel) turns affection into a weapon, while the king's love for Rama and Bharata as his 'two eyes' shows non-different, undivided love for the Lord's own form. This sits with Vishishtadvaita's picture of souls bound by karma and attachment, who depend on the Lord, here seen in Rama as the beloved son.
Raga Bhairavi, with its soft, plaintive turns, suits the king's humbled pleading and the pathos of the scene.
आगें | दीखि | जरत | रिस | भारी | मनहुँ | रोष | तरवारि | उघारी ||
मूठि | कुबुद्धि | धार | निठुराई | धरी | कूबरीं | सान | बनाई ||
लखी | महीप | कराल | कठोरा | सत्य | कि | जीवनु | लेइहि | मोरा ||
बोले | राउ | कठिन | करि | छाती | बानी | सबिनय | तासु | सोहाती ||
प्रिया | बचन | कस | कहसि | कुभाँती | भीर | प्रतीति | प्रीति | करि | हाँती ||
मोरें | भरतु | रामु | दुइ | आँखी | सत्य | कहउँ | करि | संकरू | साखी ||
अवसि | दूतु | मैं | पठइब | प्राता | ऐहहिं | बेगि | सुनत | दोउ | भ्राता ||
सुदिन | सोधि | सबु | साजु | सजाई | देउँ | भरत | कहुँ | राजु | बजाई ||
- तरवारि
- तलवार, खड्गOrigin: Awadhi
- महीप
- राजा, पृथ्वी का स्वामीOrigin: Sanskrit
- कराल
- भयंकर, विकरालOrigin: Sanskrit
- साखी
- साक्षी, गवाहOrigin: Awadhi
- सान
- शस्त्र की धार तेज करने का पत्थरOrigin: Awadhi
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The verse keeps everyday Awadhi words such as 'कूबरीं', 'सान' and 'तरवारि', which belong to the village and the smithy. It sets them beside Sanskrit-rooted terms such as 'कुबुद्धि', 'महीप', 'कराल', 'प्रतीति' and 'सबिनय'. The result is that a household quarrel is told in the grave register of the epic, and the grindstone image carries moral weight. The king's oath 'करि संकरू साखी' brings the scriptural idea of a divine witness into the speech of a husband pleading with his wife.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- This verse does not argue the doctrine directly, but it shows it at work. The king calls on the name of Shankara and on the names 'Bharata' and 'Rama', and the names alone carry the force of his oath and love. At the same time, the abstract 'रोष' is given a concrete form, a drawn sword with hilt and edge, which shows that for Tulsidas the formless is made known through a form. The name and the form are thus not two things: the name of Shankara witnesses the truth, and the form of the sons stands in the king's eyes.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- In the Manas-lake image, the poet's mind is a deep, clear water in which each scene appears as a reflection. Here the reflected scene is Kaikeyi's anger, and the mind turns it into a sword with a hilt, an edge and a grindstone, so that the image grows step by step like a ripple. Dasharatha's humble speech then shows the opposite shore of the lake, where tenderness rises to meet the storm. The verse is thus an example of the poet gathering feeling and image into one vivid picture.
FAQs
कवि ने कैकेयी के रोष को खुली हुई तलवार के समान बताया है (मनहुँ रोष तरवारि उघारी)। उस तलवार की मूठ कुबुद्धि है, धार निठुराई है, और कूबरी ने उसे अपनी सान पर तेज किया है। इस चित्र से कैकेयी का भयावह रूप सामने आता है।
दशरथ ने अपनी छाती कठिन करके विनय भरी वाणी बोली जो कैकेयी को अच्छी लगे। उन्हें डर था कि कहीं वह सचमुच उनके प्राण न ले ले। इसलिए उन्होंने प्रेम से समझाते हुए कहा कि ऐसे वचन विश्वास और प्रीति को नष्ट करते हैं।
उन्होंने शंकर को साक्षी करके कहा कि भरत और राम उनकी दो आँखों के समान हैं। फिर वचन दिया कि प्रातः दूत भेजेंगे, दोनों भाई सुनते ही शीघ्र आएँगे, और शुभ दिन सोचकर सब साज सजाकर बाजे बजवाते हुए भरत को राज्य दे देंगे।
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