Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 5
चौपाई 40.1-4
यह सोपान ‘धर्म-संकट में भक्ति की परख’ है: राज-वैभव का द्वार खुलते ही त्याग का द्वार भी खुलता है। अयोध्या काण्ड में राम का ‘मर्यादा-पुरुषोत्तम’ रूप करुणा, धीरज, और पितृ-आज्ञा-पालन के द्वारा साधक को सिखाता है कि मुक्ति की सीढ़ी घर-गृहस्थी से भागना नहीं, बल्कि आसक्ति का रूपांतरण है—स्वेच्छा से व्रत बनकर आया हुआ वनवास।
सूखहिं अधर जरइ सबु अंगू।मनहुँ दीन मनिहीन भुअंगू।।
सरुष समीप दीखि कैकेई।मानहुँ मीचु घरी गनि लेई।।
करुनामय मृदु राम सुभाऊ।प्रथम दीख दुखु सुना न काऊ।।
तदपि धीर धरि समउ बिचारी।पूँछी मधुर बचन महतारी।।
मोहि कहु मातु तात दुख कारन।करिअ जतन जेहिं होइ निवारन।।
सुनहु राम सबु कारन एहू।राजहि तुम पर बहुत सनेहू।।
देन कहेन्हि मोहि दुइ बरदाना।मागेउँ जो कछु मोहि सोहाना।।
सो सुनि भयउ भूप उर सोचू।छाड़ि न सकहिं तुम्हार सँकोचू।।
sūkhahiṁ adhara jarai sabu aṁgū |manahũ dīna manihīna bhuaṁgū ||
saruṣa samīpa dīkhi kaikeī |mānahũ mīcu gharī gani leī ||
karunāmaya mṛdu rāma subhāū |prathama dīkha dukhu sunā na kāū ||
tadapi dhīra dhari samau bicārī |pū̃chī madhura bacana mahatārī ||
mohi kahu mātu tāta dukha kārana |karia jatana jehiṁ hoi nivārana ||
sunahu rāma sabu kārana ehū |rājahi tuma para bahuta sanehū ||
dena kahenhi mohi dui baradānā |māgeũ jo kachu mohi sohānā ||
so suni bhayau bhūpa ura socū |chāṛi na sakahiṁ tumhāra sãkocū ||
उसके होठ सूख रहे थे और पूरा बदन जले जैसा था, जैसे किसी बेचारा साँप जिसके सिर से मणि गिर गई हो। उसके पास कैकेई को देखा, बहुत गुस्से में, जैसे मौत खुद घड़िया गिन रही हो। राम का स्वभाव ही दयालु और नरम था। उसने पहले कभी दुख देखा नहीं था, सुना भी नहीं था। फिर भी उसने खुद को संभाला, वक्त देख कर, और अपनी माँ से नरम बोलों से पूछा। माँ, बताओ मेरे पिता को दुख क्यों है, ताकि मैं कोशिश करके उसको दूर कर सकूँ। राम, सुनो, यही पूरा कारण है। राजा को तुमसे बहुत प्यार है। उसने मुझे दो वरदान देने की बात कही, और मैंने जो मेरे को पसंद आया वो माँग लिया। ये सुन कर राजा के दिल में चिंता आ गई। वो अपना संकोच तुम्हारे लिए छोड़ नहीं पाता।
Speaker
Tulsidas (narrator) in lines 1 to 4; Rama in line 5; Kaikeyi in lines 6 to 8
Listener
General audience for the narration; Kaikeyi for Rama's question; Rama for Kaikeyi's reply
Karuna (with a Bhayanaka undertone and the Vatsalya of a son's concern)
The scene
The prasanga
Rama has come to Kaikeyi's chamber and finds King Dasharatha shattered and Kaikeyi angry beside him. Rama gathers himself and gently asks the cause of his father's grief, and Kaikeyi answers that the king loves him so much that he hesitates to honour the two boons she has asked for.
The teaching
- Themes
- पितृ-दुःख और पुत्र की चिंता, राम का करुणामय स्वभाव, धैर्य और समय का विवेक, कैकेयी का क्रोध, वचन और स्नेह का द्वंद्व, मधुर वाणी और मर्यादा
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
A son's first duty on seeing a parent in distress is to ask gently and seek a remedy, and to do so with self-control and with respect even towards a stepmother who is angry. The verse also shows the weight of a promised boon: the king's hesitation (sankocha) arises from his love, while the word he gave binds him.
Nirguna and saguna
The unchanging divine is shown through a manifest figure who has 'never before seen sorrow' and yet meets it calmly: the gentle, compassionate Rama is the saguna face of what is in itself beyond sorrow. His very first act on meeting grief is to ask its cause and seek its removal (nivarana), so the formless remedy of suffering works through a form that speaks and listens.
Rama sees his father in agony, his lips parched and his body burning like a snake robbed of its jewel, and Kaikeyi beside him, angry and grim as death counting the hours. Tulsidas notes that Rama, compassionate and gentle by nature, had never before seen or even heard of such sorrow. Even so, he steadied himself, judged the moment, and asked his stepmother in sweet words the cause of his father's grief, wishing to remedy it. Kaikeyi answers that the king loves him greatly, that he promised her two boons and she asked for what pleased her, and that hearing it the king is troubled and cannot shake off his hesitation towards Rama.
Chaupai (16 matras per line, eight lines here, each line made of two half-lines of 8 matras with a pause at the midpoint)
Utpreksha in 'मनहुँ दीन मनिहीन भुअंगू' (the king's state imagined as a snake that has lost its jewel) and in 'मानहुँ मीचु घरी गनि लेई' (Kaikeyi imagined as death counting the moments); Anuprasa in the repeated sounds of 'सूखहिं... सबु... सरुष... समीप' and 'मधुर बचन महतारी'; Visheshokti or Atishayokti in 'प्रथम दीख दुखु सुना न काऊ' (never seen or heard of sorrow); Svabhavokti in the gentle portrait 'करुनामय मृदु राम सुभाऊ'.
Rama appears as a person of real feeling, karunamaya and mridu, who takes up a father's sorrow as his own duty, which fits the Vishishtadvaita picture of the Lord as a compassionate, qualified Person and not an attributeless Absolute. His steadiness (dhira dhari) in the face of unprecedented grief also shows the poise Tulsidas ascribes to the Lord acting within the world.
Raga Bhairavi, whose tender, grave and pathos-laden character suits the king's anguish and Rama's gentle questioning.
सूखहिं | अधर | जरइ | सबु | अंगू | मनहुँ | दीन | मनि-हीन | भुअंगू ||
सरुष | समीप | दीखि | कैकेई | मानहुँ | मीचु | घरी | गनि | लेई ||
करुना-मय | मृदु | राम | सुभाऊ | प्रथम | दीख | दुखु | सुना | न | काऊ ||
तदपि | धीर | धरि | समउ | बिचारी | पूँछी | मधुर | बचन | महतारी ||
मोहि | कहु | मातु | तात | दुख | कारन | करिअ | जतन | जेहिं | होइ | निवारन ||
सुनहु | राम | सबु | कारन | एहू | राजहि | तुम | पर | बहुत | सनेहू ||
देन | कहेन्हि | मोहि | दुइ | बरदाना | मागेउँ | जो | कछु | मोहि | सोहाना ||
सो | सुनि | भयउ | भूप | उर | सोचू | छाड़ि | न | सकहिं | तुम्हार | सँकोचू ||
- अधर
- होंठOrigin: Sanskrit
- भुअंगू
- साँप, सर्पOrigin: Sanskrit
- मीचु
- मृत्यु, मौतOrigin: Awadhi
- सँकोचू
- झिझक, लिहाज़Origin: Sanskrit
- महतारी
- माता, माँOrigin: Awadhi
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The verse is built on homely Awadhi forms such as 'सूखहिं', 'जरइ', 'पूँछी', 'महतारी' and 'मागेउँ', yet it is threaded with Sanskrit-derived words like 'अधर', 'भुअंगू', 'करुनामय', 'मृदु', 'कारन', 'निवारन' and 'सँकोचू'. This blend lets an ordinary family quarrel carry the weight of scriptural vocabulary. The word 'करुनामय' and the phrase 'समउ बिचारी' show Rama as the model of dharmic judgement, in language the village listener can follow. The folk idiom of a mother, a son and a stricken father is thus raised to a lesson in conduct.
- 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 it should not be forced to. What it does show is the Form (Rupa) in action: Rama's 'करुनामय मृदु... सुभाऊ' is the lived character of the Lord, and his steady question to Kaikeyi is that character at work. The Name appears only as an address, in Kaikeyi's 'सुनहु राम', which draws the Form to attend and answer. In this limited sense the verse supports the wider Manas teaching that Name and Form go together, with the Name calling forth the Form and the Form making the Name's meaning visible.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- The Manas is a lake whose waters hold both clear and troubled depths, and this verse draws from the darker part of it. The images of a jewel-less snake and of death counting the hours are dark currents in the lake of the poet's mind, yet they lead to the clear water of Rama's 'मधुर बचन'. The poet lets sorrow rise, with the king's parched lips and burning limbs, and then calms it with the Lord's gentleness. In this way the verse shows the lake as a single mind that holds grief and serenity together, with compassion as the shore that contains both.
FAQs
तुलसीदास ने राजा की तुलना मणि खोए हुए दीन साँप से की है: 'मनहुँ दीन मनिहीन भुअंगू'। उनके होंठ सूख रहे थे और सारा शरीर जल रहा था। इससे राजा की असहायता और भीतरी पीड़ा प्रकट होती है।
राम ने पहले कभी दुख देखा-सुना नहीं था, फिर भी उन्होंने धैर्य धरकर और समय का विचार करके कैकेयी से मधुर वचनों में पूछा। उन्होंने कहा कि माता, पिता के दुख का कारण बताइए, ताकि मैं उसके निवारण का यत्न करूँ। इससे उनका करुणामय स्वभाव और संयम दिखता है।
कैकेयी ने कहा कि राजा को राम पर बहुत स्नेह है। उन्होंने दो वरदान देने को कहा था और कैकेयी ने अपनी रुचि का माँग लिया। यह सुनकर राजा के हृदय में चिंता हुई और वे राम के संकोच के कारण उसे छोड़ नहीं पा रहे हैं।
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