Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 6
छंद 50
राजधर्म बनाम प्रेम—यह सोपान साधक को ‘स्वत्व’ (अहं-हित) से उठाकर ‘धर्म-हित’ (ईश-आज्ञा) में स्थिर करता है। अयोध्या काण्ड में राम का राज्य-त्याग और वन-गमन बाह्य घटना नहीं, वैराग्य-दीक्षा है: आसक्ति का परित्याग, वचन-पालन, और लोक-कल्याण हेतु स्वेच्छा से कष्ट-स्वीकार। इस चरण पर साधक सीखता है कि मुक्ति-मार्ग में ‘उचित’ वही है जो ईश्वर-आज्ञा और सत्य-प्रतिज्ञा के साथ हो, चाहे मन-प्रिय न हो।
जेहि भाँति सोकु कलंकु जाइ उपाय करि कुल पालही।हठि फेरु रामहि जात बन जनि बात दूसरि चालही।।
जिमि भानु बिनु दिनु प्रान बिनु तनु चंद बिनु जिमि जामिनी।तिमि अवध तुलसीदास प्रभु बिनु समुझि धौं जियँ भामिनी।।
jehi bhā̃ti soku kalaṁku jāi upāya kari kula pālahī |haṭhi pheru rāmahi jāta bana jani bāta dūsari cālahī ||
jimi bhānu binu dinu prāna binu tanu caṁda binu jimi jāminī |timi avadha tulasīdāsa prabhu binu samujhi dhauṁ jiyã bhāminī ||
कोई ऐसा तरीका सोचो जिससे ये दुख और बदनामी खत्म हो जाए, और अपने परिवार को बचाओ। राम को जबरदस्ती वापस मोड़ लो, वो जंगल जा रहा है, और कोई दूसरी बात मत उठाओ। जैसे दिन सूरज के बिना है, जैसे शरीर प्राण के बिना है, जैसे रात चाँद के बिना है, वैसे ही तुलसीदास कहते हैं कि अयोध्या अपने स्वामी के बिना है। सुनिए, ये बात अपने दिल में अच्छी तरह समझ लीजिए।
Speaker
Kaikeyi's women companions (with Tulsidas's closing signature)
Listener
Kaikeyi
Karuna (with Shanta undertone and a Dasya-like reverence for Rama as Lord)
The scene
The prasanga
In Ayodhya Kanda, Kaikeyi lies in the chamber of anger, having demanded Bharata's coronation and Rama's exile. Her counsellors plead with her to undo the harm, ending by comparing Ayodhya without Rama to day without the sun, body without life and night without the moon.
The teaching
- Themes
- रामविरह में अयोध्या की दशा, कुल की मर्यादा और कलंक से रक्षा, विवेकपूर्ण परामर्श, उपमाओं द्वारा भाव की अभिव्यक्ति, राम की अनिवार्यता, आत्मचिंतन की प्रेरणा
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
A ruler's rightful heir and a righteous person must not be driven out by one person's stubbornness. Protecting the kula's honour and the public good takes precedence over personal desire. The verse also shows that wise counsel is a duty, even when addressed to a queen.
Nirguna and saguna
Rama, the universal sustaining principle, is here seen in a particular manifest form, the prince about to leave for the forest. His absence drains light, life and coolness from the whole city. The all-pervading power is thus felt through the presence of a person.
Traditional commentators read this chhand as the closing plea of the counsellors to Kaikeyi. They urge her to find a remedy by which the grief and the stain on the family may be removed, to bring Rama back by insistence, and not to raise any other demand. They then give the three comparisons, the day without the sun, the body without life and the night without the moon, to show that Ayodhya without Rama is lifeless and dark. Tulsidas puts his name in the last line to stress that this is his own conviction as well. The words 'samujhi dhau jiyam bhamini' ask Kaikeyi to reflect inwardly before her decision becomes irreversible.
Harigitika chhand, a four-line stanza of 28 matras per line, usually broken 16 + 12, with rhyming line-endings (here -ही and -नी).
jimi bhanu binu dinu... timi avadha prabhu binu' compares Ayodhya without Rama to the day without the sun.", "Mala upama (garland of similes): three comparisons, 'bhanu binu dinu; pran binu tanu' and 'chand binu jamini; b' and 'n' sounds in 'binu; bana' and 'jana; palahi' and 'chalahi'.", 'Drishtanta: familiar facts (day, body, night) are used to prove the claim about Ayodhya.; s name 'Tulsidas
The verse treats Rama as the inner life and sustaining soul (prana) of Ayodhya and its people, as the sun is of the day and life of the body. This fits Vishishtadvaita, in which the world is the body and the Lord its indwelling controller. Tulsidas's phrase 'prabhu' sets Rama as the Lord on whom everything depends.
Raga Bhairavi, whose tender and plaintive character suits the pleading and the sorrow of the images of a sunless day and a moonless night.
जेहि | भाँति | सोकु | कलंकु | जाइ | उपाय | करि | कुल | पालही |
हठि | फेरु | रामहि | जात | बन | जनि | बात | दूसरि | चालही ||
जिमि | भानु | बिनु | दिनु | प्रान | बिनु | तनु | चंद | बिनु | जिमि | जामिनी |
तिमि | अवध | तुलसीदास | प्रभु | बिनु | समुझि | धौं | जियँ | भामिनी ||
- कलंकु
- दाग, अपयशOrigin: Sanskrit
- उपाय
- तरीका, युक्तिOrigin: Sanskrit
- हठि
- ज़िद या बलपूर्वकOrigin: Awadhi
- जामिनी
- रात्रिOrigin: Sanskrit
- भामिनी
- स्त्री, देवी (आदरसूचक संबोधन)Origin: Sanskrit
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The vocabulary is rooted in everyday Awadhi speech, with words such as 'hathi', 'pheru', 'jani' and 'chalahi' that a village listener understands at once. Alongside them stand tatsama words such as 'kalanka', 'upaya', 'kula', 'bhanu', 'prana', 'jamini' and 'bhamini', which carry the dignity of the Sanskrit tradition. The three images of sun, life and moon are the classical measures of what makes day, body and night complete, so a plain plea takes the weight of a philosophical claim. In this way a family quarrel in the palace is raised to a statement about dharma and the Lord's place in the world.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- This verse does not discuss the Name directly, so the doctrine must be read from what it says of the Form. Rama in his visible person, going to the forest, is shown as the very life of Ayodhya, so his bodily presence is not a lesser or merely symbolic aspect of the divine. Tulsidas calls him 'prabhu', the Lord, and says the city is as empty without him as the body without prana, which affirms the Saguna Rupa as real and indispensable. Elsewhere in the Manas the Name is held to be inseparable from the Form, and this verse supports that by showing how fully the Form carries the Lord's power.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- The Manas as a lake is a place where clear and refreshing water gathers, and this verse draws its imagery from the same elemental sources: sun, life, moon, day and night. The poet's mind is shown as full of these natural pictures, which he sets side by side to carry a single feeling of loss. The sorrow of the women is drawn from the same waters that nourish the whole poem, so devotion and observation of nature flow together. The signature line 'Tulsidas' also shows the poet stepping onto the bank of his own lake to address the listener directly, urging 'samujhi dhau jiyam', to think it over in the heart.
FAQs
उनसे कहा गया है कि ऐसा उपाय करें जिससे शोक और कलंक मिट जाए और कुल की रक्षा हो। वे हठपूर्वक वन जाते हुए राम को लौटा लें और कोई दूसरी बात न उठाएँ।
उन्होंने कहा है कि जैसे सूर्य के बिना दिन, प्राण के बिना शरीर और चंद्रमा के बिना रात्रि सूनी होती है, वैसे ही प्रभु राम के बिना अयोध्या है। ये तीनों उपमाएँ अयोध्या के लिए राम की अनिवार्यता को दिखाती हैं।
इसका आशय है कि हे देवी, अपने हृदय में भली-भाँति विचार करके देखो। यह कैकेयी से आग्रह है कि वे जल्दबाज़ी छोड़कर राम के वियोग के परिणामों को समझें और निर्णय बदलें।
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Ramcharitmanas in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Awadhi recitation where available, and more.
