Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 5
दोहा 40
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।
सुत सनेह इत बचनु उत संकट परेउ नरेसु।सकहु न आयसु धरहु सिर मेटहु कठिन कलेसु।।40।।
suta saneha ita bacanu uta saṁkaṭa pareu naresu |sakahu na āyasu dharahu sira meṭahu kaṭhina kalesu ||40||
एक तरफ राजा का अपने बेटे से प्यार है, दूसरी तरफ उसका दिया हुआ वादा। वो बहुत तंग हालत में फंस गया है। अगर तुम कर सको तो उसका आदेश अपने सिर पर ले लो, और उसका कड़क दुख खतम कर दो।
Speaker
Kaikeyi
Listener
Rama
Karuna (with Dasya undertone)
The scene
The prasanga
In the Kopabhavana, Rama has asked why his father is grieved, and Kaikeyi answers him, shielding her own demand behind the king's plight. She presents Dasharatha as torn between love for his son and his pledged word, and invites Rama to remove the sorrow by obeying the command.
The teaching
- Themes
- पितृ-आज्ञा का पालन, वचन और सत्य की मर्यादा, स्नेह और कर्तव्य का द्वंद्व, कैकेयी की वाक्-चतुराई, पुत्र-धर्म, राजा दशरथ का संकट
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
The verse sets the weight of a spoken promise against personal attachment, showing that a ruler's word is binding even at the cost of his dearest love. It also puts before the son the duty to relieve a father's distress by honouring his command, which is the filial base on which Ramrajya's order rests.
Nirguna and saguna
The formless Lord who rules all dharma appears as a son who can be addressed, pressed and commanded, and 'आयसु धरहु सिर' asks the Saguna Rama to take up a human burden. His acceptance of it is what later reveals the changeless Truth within the manifest form.
Kaikeyi tells Rama that King Dasharatha is trapped in a dilemma, for love of his son pulls him on one side and his pledged word on the other. She says the king has fallen into a dire strait, and she challenges Rama: if he is able, let him take his father's command on his head and end the king's bitter anguish. Commentators note the cunning of her speech, which hides her own demand behind the king's suffering and appeals to Rama's filial duty. The line also prepares the ground for Rama's calm acceptance, which turns the apparent calamity into an example of obedience to a father's word.
Doha (13/11 matra pattern): in each line 13 matras before the caesura and 11 after, e.g. 'सुत सनेह इत बचनु उत' (13) + 'संकट परेउ नरेसु' (11); the line ends rhyme in 'नरेसु' and 'कलेसु'.
Vishama-style contrast or antithesis (virodha) in 'सुत सनेह इत' against 'बचनु उत', with the paired 'इत' and 'उत' marking the two poles; Anuprasa (alliteration) in the repeated 's' and 'k' sounds of 'सुत सनेह', 'संकट', 'सकहु', 'कठिन कलेसु'; Antyanuprasa (end rhyme) in 'नरेसु' and 'कलेसु'; Vakrokti (oblique pleading) in 'सकहु न', which turns a demand into a challenge to Rama's capacity.
The verse sets the claim of a bound word (vachana, satya) against the claim of attachment (sneha), and the dilemma is resolved by Rama's dutiful obedience, in the spirit of Vishishtadvaita service to the divine will working through ordinary relations. The Lord is placed within the human web of duty and accepts its binding force, so that dharma is lived out rather than argued in the abstract.
Raga Bhairavi (or Raga Todi), whose tender, plaintive character suits the pathos and the tension of the moment.
सुत | सनेह | इत | बचनु | उत | संकट | परेउ | नरेसु |
सकहु | न | आयसु | धरहु | सिर | मेटहु | कठिन | कलेसु ||
- सनेह
- प्रेम, स्नेह, ममताOrigin: Sanskrit
- बचनु
- वचन, दिया हुआ वादाOrigin: Sanskrit
- संकट
- विपत्ति, कठिन परिस्थितिOrigin: Sanskrit
- आयसु
- आज्ञा, आदेशOrigin: Sanskrit
- कलेसु
- क्लेश, गहरा दुखOrigin: Sanskrit
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The homely, clipped speech of 'इत' and 'उत' is joined with Sanskrit-derived words such as 'सनेह' (sneha), 'संकट' (sankata), 'आयसु' (ādeśa), 'नरेसु' (nareśa) and 'कलेसु' (kleśa). A household quarrel is thereby given the vocabulary of dharma-shastra, where vachana (a pledged word) and sneha (attachment) are weighed as moral claims. The folk idiom keeps the line speakable, while the Sanskritic terms lift the domestic scene to a question of royal duty and truth.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- This verse does not speak of the Name directly, so no doctrine of Nama versus Rupa is stated in it. What it does show is the Form (Rupa) of Rama as the obedient son who stands within human relations and is addressed with 'आयसु धरहु सिर'. The 'बचनु' (word) the king gave is an echo of the same idea, since a spoken word binds the speaker as firmly as any form. The lesson of the line is that a word, once given, carries real force.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- The poet's mind here holds a clear, balanced picture of two pulls, 'सुत सनेह इत' and 'बचनु उत', with the king caught between them like water between two banks. The compact line shows the lake's disciplined depth, in which strong feeling is poured into a measured doha. The sorrow in 'कठिन कलेसु' is not left raw but given a shape that the listener can see and weigh. In this way Tulsidas turns a painful moment into a clear moral image.
FAQs
एक ओर राजा का पुत्र राम के प्रति स्नेह है और दूसरी ओर कैकेयी को दिया हुआ वचन है। 'इत' और 'उत' शब्द इन दोनों छोरों को दिखाते हैं। इन्हीं के बीच फँसकर राजा 'संकट परेउ' अर्थात् भारी विपत्ति में पड़ गए हैं।
वह राम को चुनौती के ढंग से कहती है कि यदि तुम समर्थ हो तो पिता की आज्ञा को सिर पर धारण करो। इस तरह वह अपनी माँग को राजा के दुख को दूर करने के बहाने के पीछे रखती है। उसका उद्देश्य राम को पितृ-आज्ञा मानने के लिए प्रेरित करना है।
'सिर धरना' का अर्थ है आज्ञा को आदरपूर्वक स्वीकार कर उसका पालन करना। यह पुत्र-धर्म को दिखाता है, जिसमें पिता का दुख दूर करना और उनके वचन की रक्षा करना कर्तव्य है। रामराज्य की मर्यादा में वचन का पालन और बड़ों की आज्ञा का सम्मान सबसे ऊपर रखे गए हैं।
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