Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 7
दोहा 68
This Sopāna marks the soul’s initiation into Tyāga-yoga: dharma is no longer an ideal but a lived renunciation. Ayodhya—symbol of ordered consciousness—witnesses the wrenching shift from ‘gṛha’ (secure, scripted duty) to ‘vana’ (austere, unscripted surrender). The staircase-step here is Vairāgya tempered by Prem: the devotee learns that love does not cancel duty; it sanctifies separation, hardship, and obedience into bhakti-sādhana.
बहुरि बच्छ कहि लालु कहि रघुपति रघुबर तात।कबहिं बोलाइ लगाइ हियँ हरषि निरखिहउँ गात।।68।।
bahuri baccha kahi lālu kahi raghupati raghubara tāta |kabahiṁ bolāi lagāi hiyã haraṣi nirakhihaũ gāta ||68||
मैं फिर से तुम्हे बचा, प्यारे, रघुपति, रघुबर और बेटे कह कर बुलाऊँगा। कब तुम्हे अपने पास बुला कर दिल से लगा लूँगा, और खुश होकर तुम्हे देख पाऊँगा?
Speaker
Kaushalya
Listener
Rama (Sita also present)
Vatsalya (with Karuna undertone)
The scene
The prasanga
Rama is about to leave for the forest and has taken leave of his mother. Kaushalya, overcome by separation, laments in anticipation how she will again call him by every pet name, embrace him and gaze joyfully on his form.
The teaching
- Themes
- मातृ-वात्सल्य, वियोग की पीड़ा, राम के नामों की मिठास, पुनर्मिलन की आशा, पिता के वचन का त्याग, सगुण रूप के प्रति प्रेम
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
The verse shows the dharma of filial bond and the cost of upholding a father's word: a mother's heart bears the pain of Rama's exile. It reminds that the ideal ruler's righteousness is paid for by those who love him, and that the household affections are part of dharma, not opposed to it.
Nirguna and saguna
The many names (Raghupati, Raghubara) point to the one who is beyond names, yet here they are spoken to a child who can be clasped to the heart. The unlimited Brahman is reached through the limited, tangible gat of Rama, so the formless is approached through form and name together.
Kaushalya, knowing Rama must go to the forest, imagines the day of his return and asks when she will again call him by all his pet names: child, darling, Raghupati, Raghubara, son. Her longing is for the simple acts of a mother: to call him to her, press him to her heart and look at his form with joy. Commentators note that 'Raghupati' and 'Raghubara', titles of honour, are used here as endearments, showing that for her the Lord is only her son. The question 'कबहिं' carries both hope and the fear that the day may never come, which gives the verse its pathos of vatsalya and karuna.
Doha (13/11 matra pattern per line): the first line divides after 'बहुरि बच्छ कहि लालु कहि' (13) and 'रघुपति रघुबर तात' (11). The second line follows the same two-part scheme, with Awadhi elisions in the reading of 'लगाइ', 'हियँ' and 'निरखिहउँ'.
Anuprasa (alliteration of 'र' and 'ह' in 'रघुपति रघुबर', 'हियँ हरषि'). Punarukti/Dipaka-like repetition in 'कहि ... कहि' and the string of epithets (बच्छ, लालु, रघुपति, रघुबर, तात). Sphutarth emphasis in the rhetorical question 'कबहिं ... निरखिहउँ'. Svabhavokti in the natural picture of a mother calling, embracing and gazing.
The verse is rooted in the Vishishtadvaita reading of Saguna devotion: the Lord has a real, embraceable body (gat), and the devotee's love attaches to that form and its names. Kaushalya's maternal love, not abstract knowledge, is the relation by which she approaches Rama.
Raga Bhairavi, whose tender, plaintive flavour suits a mother's longing and the vatsalya-karuna mood; Raga Pilu is a fitting alternative.
बहुरि | बच्छ | कहि | लालु | कहि | रघुपति | रघुबर | तात |
कबहिं | बोलाइ | लगाइ | हियँ | हरषि | निरखिहउँ | गात ||
- बहुरि
- फिर, पुनः, दोबाराOrigin: Awadhi
- बच्छ
- पुत्र, प्रिय बालक (वत्स)Origin: Sanskrit
- लालु
- लाड़ला, प्यारा पुत्रOrigin: Awadhi
- निरखिहउँ
- मैं देखूँगी, प्रेम से निहारूँगीOrigin: Awadhi
- गात
- शरीर, अंग (गात्र)Origin: Sanskrit
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The verse is built from homely mother's words such as 'बच्छ', 'लालु', 'तात' and the colloquial absolutives 'बोलाइ', 'लगाइ', 'हरषि'. Beside them stand Sanskrit-derived words like 'रघुपति', 'रघुबर' and 'गात' (gatra), which give the folk talk the dignity of the tradition. The title 'Raghupati' used as a pet name lifts a mother's endearment into a name of the Lord. In this way everyday speech becomes the vehicle of scriptural truth, with no break between the two registers.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- Kaushalya gives five names in a single line, 'बच्छ', 'लालु', 'रघुपति', 'रघुबर', 'तात', and each is a call that longs for the form: 'बोलाइ लगाइ हियँ ... निरखिहउँ गात'. The Name here does not replace the Form but summons it, so the two are shown as inseparable. Tulsidas's view is that the Name brings the Form to the heart, and the Form gives the Name its meaning and sweetness. The verse thus supports the teaching that Name and Form are united in one Rama.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- The lake of the poet's mind is filled with feelings that rise as ripples, and here the overflowing feeling is a mother's love. The repeated 'कहि ... कहि' and the series of epithets move like successive waves, and the closing 'हरषि निरखिहउँ गात' is the clear still water in which Rama's form is reflected. The verse is drawn from the depth of emotion, not from argument. Tulsidas lets the mother's tenderness serve as one of the streams that feed the Manas.
FAQs
इस दोहे में माता कौशल्या राम से अपने वियोग-भाव में बोल रही हैं। वे सोचती हैं कि राम के वन जाने पर वे फिर कब उन्हें प्यार से पुकारेंगी और गले लगाएँगी। यहाँ वात्सल्य के साथ करुणा का भाव है।
वे राम को 'बच्छ', 'लालु', 'रघुपति', 'रघुबर' और 'तात' कहकर पुकारना चाहती हैं। 'रघुपति' और 'रघुबर' आदर के नाम हैं, पर माता के मुख से वे लाड़ के नाम बन जाते हैं। इससे दिखता है कि उनके लिए राम केवल प्रिय पुत्र हैं।
इस पंक्ति में पूर्वकालिक क्रियाएँ 'बोलाइ', 'लगाइ' और 'हरषि' हैं, जिनके बाद मुख्य क्रिया 'निरखिहउँ' (मैं निहारूँगी) आती है। ये क्रमशः पास बुलाने, हृदय से लगाने और आनंद से देखने की माता की इच्छा दिखाती हैं। 'कबहिं' से इस इच्छा की व्याकुलता और अनिश्चितता प्रकट होती है।
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