Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 4
दोहा 35
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।
मरम बचन सुनि राउ कह कहु कछु दोषु न तोर।लागेउ तोहि पिसाच जिमि कालु कहावत मोर।।35।।
marama bacana suni rāu kaha kahu kachu doṣu na tora |lāgeu tohi pisāca jimi kālu kahāvata mora ||35||
राजा ने दिल पे लगती बात सुनी। फिर बोले, तुम्हारा कोई दोष नहीं। मेरा खुद का काल पिसाच की तरह तुम पर चढ़ गया है और तुम्हारे मुँह से ये बातें करवा रहा है।
Speaker
Dasharatha (the king)
Listener
Kaikeyi
Karuna (with Vipralambha undertone and a trace of Shanta in his gentle refusal to blame)
The scene
The prasanga
Kaikeyi has just answered Dasharatha's pleas with hard, cutting words, taunting him over his oath and his name for generosity. Pierced by them, the king does not curse her but declares her blameless, saying his own death has possessed her and is speaking through her.
The teaching
- Themes
- दशरथ की व्यथा और करुणा, भाग्य और काल की प्रबलता, दूसरे को दोष न देने की मर्यादा, कैकेयी का मोहग्रस्त होना, वचन-पालन का संकट, पिसाच की उपमा और लोक-विश्वास
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
Even in extreme anguish the king keeps his dignity and refuses to blame another, taking the burden on his own destiny. This restraint of speech is the discipline of a true ruler. The verse also quietly shows the tragic cost of a vow made without foresight, the kind of rule Ramrajya will correct.
Nirguna and saguna
Time and doom are formless and unseen, yet the verse gives them a manifest shape: Kala becomes a pishacha that enters Kaikeyi and uses her mouth. The formless thus acts through a concrete, visible person, much as the formless Lord works through the manifest form.
Struck to the heart by Kaikeyi's cruel words, Dasharatha answers not with anger but with a pained generosity. He says no fault lies with her: his own Death, his adverse fate, has seized her like a demon and is making her speak. Commentators note the tenderness of this charge, since the king still loves her and prefers to believe some outside force has corrupted her. They also read in it his helplessness: he sees the doom closing in but cannot yet turn it aside.
Doha (13/11 matra pattern). Line 1 divides as मरम बचन सुनि राउ कह (13) + कहु कछु दोषु न तोर (11). Line 2 is लागेउ तोहि पिसाच जिमि (13 with the usual elision in लागेउ) + कालु कहावत मोर (11). The lines rhyme at their ends on तोर and मोर.
Upama: लागेउ तोहि पिसाच जिमि, Kaikeyi is possessed 'like a demon' (jimi is the word of comparison). Apahnuti or vyajokti: कछु दोषु न तोर, he denies her fault and places the cause elsewhere. Rupaka and personification: कालु कहावत, Death is made an agent that speaks through her. Anuprasa: repeated k and l sounds in कहु कछु, कालु कहावत, लागेउ. Yamaka-like echo in कह and कहु, and the rhyme of तोर with मोर.
In Vishishtadvaita terms, Kala acts within the Lord's governance and does not stand outside it. Dasharatha's cry that Kala has seized Kaikeyi shows a jiva who feels the force of karma and destiny but cannot yet see the Lord's will in it. An Advaitic reading would take the 'possession' as a delusion laid over the real situation, which is the king's own moral failing.
Raga Bhairavi, whose tender, plaintive komal notes suit the grief and bitter resignation of the king's reply.
मरम | बचन | सुनि | राउ | कह | कहु | कछु | दोषु | न | तोर |
लागेउ | तोहि | पिसाच | जिमि | कालु | कहावत | मोर ||
- मरम
- मर्म, हृदय का गूढ़ और कोमल स्थान; वह बात जो भीतर तक चोट करेOrigin: Sanskrit
- दोषु
- दोष, अपराध या कसूरOrigin: Sanskrit
- पिसाच
- पिशाच, मनुष्य पर सवार होने वाला भूत-प्रेत जैसा दुष्ट जीवOrigin: Sanskrit
- कालु
- काल, मृत्यु या विनाश का समय; प्रतिकूल भाग्यOrigin: Sanskrit
- कहावत
- कहलवाता है, बुलवाता हैOrigin: Awadhi
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The vocabulary is almost wholly tatsama: मरम (marma), दोषु (dosha), पिसाच (pishacha) and कालु (kala). These are words of the Shastra, yet they sit in a plain Awadhi frame of absolutives and everyday particles (सुनि, कह, जिमि, कहावत). The folk belief in a demon possessing a person is thus stated in the grave diction of philosophy, where Kala is an ultimate power and not just a ghost story. The result is a king's domestic quarrel that carries the weight of scriptural fate.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- This verse does not state the Nama-Rupa doctrine directly, and nothing in its words should be forced to do so. What it does show is the principle behind that doctrine: an unseen reality is grasped only when it is named and given a form. Time is formless, but the king names it Kalu and gives it the shape of a pisacha, so that it becomes something that can seize and speak. In the same way, Tulsidas elsewhere holds that the Name makes the formless reachable.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- In the Kavi-Manas image the poem is a lake with many ghats, and each verse is a step to the water for a different kind of listener. This couplet is a ghat of human sorrow, with a plain folk simile drawn up into a theological idea. The poet does not condemn Kaikeyi from outside. He lets the stricken king speak in his own voice, and the lake's clear water reflects both the king's pain and his generosity of spirit. The couplet shows how the poet's mind turns raw grief into a vessel for devotion.
FAQs
दशरथ ने कहा कि इसमें तुम्हारा कुछ भी दोष नहीं है। उनके अनुसार उनका अपना काल, अर्थात उनका प्रतिकूल भाग्य, कैकेयी पर पिशाच की तरह सवार हो गया है और वही उसके मुख से ये बातें कहलवा रहा है।
'लागेउ तोहि पिसाच जिमि' में उपमा अलंकार है, क्योंकि 'जिमि' वाचक शब्द से कैकेयी की तुलना पिशाच-ग्रस्त व्यक्ति से की गई है। 'कछु दोषु न तोर' में दोष का निषेध है और 'कालु कहावत' में काल पर कर्ता होने का आरोप है। 'कहु कछु' और 'कालु कहावत' में अनुप्रास भी है।
इससे पता चलता है कि घोर पीड़ा में भी दशरथ कैकेयी को शाप नहीं देते और उसके प्रति कोमल बने रहते हैं। वे दोष अपने भाग्य पर लेते हैं, जिसमें उनकी मर्यादा और प्रेम दिखता है। साथ ही यह उनकी विवशता भी दिखाता है, क्योंकि वे विनाश को आता देखकर भी उसे रोक नहीं पा रहे।
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