Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 8
दोहा 71
यह सोपान ‘त्याग-धर्म’ का द्वार है: राजसुख के शिखर पर खड़े होकर भी राम-धर्म के लिए स्वेच्छा से वनगमन स्वीकारते हैं। साधक के भीतर यही रूपांतरण घटता है—‘मेरा अधिकार’ से ‘ईश्वर-आज्ञा’ की ओर, तथा गृह-आश्रय से नाम-आश्रय की ओर। अयोध्या यहाँ ‘अहं-गृह’ का प्रतीक भी है; राम का निष्क्रमण वैराग्य नहीं, धर्म-निष्ठा और लोक-कल्याण-हित करुणा है।
उतरु न आवत प्रेम बस गहे चरन अकुलाइ।नाथ दासु मैं स्वामि तुम्ह तजहु त काह बसाइ।।71।।
utaru na āvata prema basa gahe carana akulāi |nātha dāsu maiṁ svāmi tumha tajahu ta kāha basāi ||71||
उसको प्यार में इतना भर आया कि कोई जवाब नहीं आया। तकलीफ में उसने राम के पैर पकड़ लिए और बोला, प्रभु, मैं आप का नौकर हूँ और आप मेरा मालिक हैं। अगर आप मुझे छोड़ देंगे तो मेरे पास क्या ताकत बचेगी?
Speaker
Tulsidas (narrator) in the first line, then Lakshmana
Listener
General audience, then Rama
Dasya (with Karuna undertone)
The scene
The prasanga
Rama has just advised Lakshmana to stay behind in Ayodhya and look after the family, and Lakshmana has been left deeply shaken. Unable to find a reply, he clasps Rama's feet and pleads that, as servant to master, he is helpless if Rama abandons him.
The teaching
- Themes
- प्रेम की विह्वलता, सेवक और स्वामी का संबंध, शरणागति, भ्रातृ-प्रेम और निष्ठा, वियोग की आशंका, चरण-ग्रहण
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
The verse shows the bond of loyalty and protection between master and dependant: the servant's claim is that a lord does not forsake one who has no other support. It also shows the tension between obedience to a given duty and love's claim to stay near the beloved, which Ramrajya's ethics of mutual care has to hold together.
Nirguna and saguna
The Lord who is the sovereign master of all is approached here through a concrete, touchable form, the feet (charan) that Lakshmana clasps. The address nath and swami names the unseen lordship, while the embodied Rama receives the surrender, so that the principle becomes accessible through the person.
Rama has told Lakshmana to stay behind and serve the family, and Lakshmana, overcome by love, finds that no reply will come to him. In his distress he clasps Rama's feet. He then speaks plainly: he is the servant and Rama the master, and if Rama forsakes him, he has no power to do anything. Commentators read this as the pure dasya bhava, in which the devotee's only strength is the Lord's protection. The couplet prepares the longer, more reasoned plea that follows.
Doha (13/11 matra pattern in each line, with rhyme at the line ends: अकुलाइ / बसाइ). Line 1: उतरु न आवत प्रेम बस (13) + गहे चरन अकुलाइ (11). Line 2: नाथ दासु मैं स्वामि तुम्ह (13) + तजहु त काह बसाइ (11).
Anuprasa (alliteration and sound repetition) in 'तजहु त' and in the repeated 'न/नाथ' and 'स/स्वामि' sounds. Prashna or rhetorical question in 'काह बसाइ' (what power have I?). Svabhavokti (natural description) in the picture of a speechless, agitated Lakshmana clasping the feet. Balanced parallelism (sama-vinyasa) in 'दासु मैं स्वामि तुम्ह', where servant and master are set against each other. Karana-karya linkage in 'प्रेम बस' as the cause of the missing reply.
The verse rests on the relation of servant and master (dasa and swami), which fits Vishishtadvaita: the devotee is a dependent part of the Lord and cannot stand apart from him. Lakshmana's words are an act of prapatti, in which he declares he has no strength or recourse except Rama.
Raga Bhairavi, whose plaintive, tender mood suits Lakshmana's speechless anguish and humble plea.
उतरु | न | आवत | प्रेम-बस | गहे | चरन | अकुलाइ |
नाथ | दासु | मैं | स्वामि | तुम्ह | तजहु | त | काह | बसाइ ||
- उतरु
- उत्तर, जवाबOrigin: Sanskrit
- गहे
- पकड़ लिए, थाम लिएOrigin: Awadhi
- अकुलाइ
- व्याकुल होकर, घबराकरOrigin: Awadhi
- दासु
- सेवकOrigin: Sanskrit
- बसाइ
- वश, सामर्थ्य, उपायOrigin: Awadhi
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The verse is in plain spoken Awadhi, with words like उतरु, गहे, अकुलाइ and काह बसाइ, yet it also carries Sanskrit-derived terms such as प्रेम, चरन, नाथ, दासु and स्वामि. These terms are the vocabulary of scriptural devotion, and they lift an ordinary domestic scene to the level of doctrine. The household speech of a brother pleading becomes a statement of the servant-master relation (dasa and swami) that the shastras teach. Folk idiom thus carries the full weight of scriptural meaning without any change of register.
- 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 shows. Lakshmana's surrender is directed at the Form: he clasps the feet (गहे चरन) and addresses Rama by the titles नाथ and स्वामि. The titles name the relation of lordship, while the clasped feet give it a concrete place to rest. The verse thus supports the saguna view that devotion needs a nameable, touchable Lord, and that title and form work together as the object of surrender.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- The verse is like a quiet, deep ripple on the lake of the poet's mind, where intense feeling surfaces in very few and simple words. The first line is full of stillness, since no reply comes (उतरु न आवत), and love has overpowered speech (प्रेम बस). The second line lets the feeling overflow into a short, direct plea, ending in the question काह बसाइ. Tulsidas gives emotion first the silence of the depths and then the clarity of the clear water, which suits the Manas as a lake where devotion is made visible.
FAQs
राम की आज्ञा सुनकर लक्ष्मण प्रेम के वश में हो गए थे। प्रेम की अधिकता ने उनकी वाणी रोक दी, इसीलिए चौपाई में कहा गया है कि 'उतरु न आवत प्रेम बस'।
चरण पकड़ना पूर्ण समर्पण और विनय का भाव है। व्याकुल लक्ष्मण ने बिना शब्दों के ही राम के चरण थाम लिए, मानो वे कह रहे हों कि वे साथ ही रहना चाहते हैं।
लक्ष्मण कहते हैं कि राम स्वामी हैं और वे दास हैं। यदि राम उन्हें त्याग दें, तो उनके वश में कुछ नहीं रह जाता। यह सेवक-स्वामी के संबंध और शरणागति का सीधा कथन है।
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