Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 8
सोरठा 75
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।
मातु चरन सिरु नाइ चले तुरत संकित हृदयँ।बागुर बिषम तोराइ मनहुँ भाग मृगु भाग बस।।75।।
mātu carana siru nāi cale turata saṁkita hṛdayã |bāgura biṣama torāi manahũ bhāga mṛgu bhāga basa ||75||
लक्ष्मण ने अपनी माँ के चरणों में सिर झुका के तुरंत निकल पड़ा। उसके अंदर डर था। जैसे कोई हिरण किस्मत से खतरनाक जाल तोड़ कर भाग जाता है, वैसे ही वो भाग रहा था।
Speaker
Tulsidas (narrator)
Listener
General audience
Dasya (with a Bhaya undertone)
The scene
The prasanga
Lakshmana has received his mother Sumitra's counsel to serve Rama and Sita in the forest as if it were Ayodhya. He bows at her feet and leaves at once, anxious inside. The verse compares him to a deer that has broken free of a snare.
The teaching
- Themes
- मातृ-भक्ति और आशीर्वाद, भ्रातृ-प्रेम और सेवा, मोह-बंधन से मुक्ति, अनुराग की शीघ्रता, भय और आशंका, प्रभु-चरणों की ओर प्रस्थान
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
Lakshmana honours his mother with a bow and takes her leave before going, so filial reverence and duty to the elder brother are held together. Service to the righteous king-to-be is placed above comfort and family ties.
Nirguna and saguna
The verse mentions no form of the Lord directly. It shows the devotee's longing for the manifest Rama, the Saguna goal, by contrast with the bonds of worldly life that bind the soul. Release from the snare points to the formless freedom (moksha) that Saguna service gives.
After taking his mother's counsel, Lakshmana bows at her feet and leaves at once with a heart full of fear. The commentators explain that he fears Rama may refuse to take him along. Tulsidas compares him to a deer that, by fortune, breaks a dangerous snare and runs away. The pun on 'भाग' joins good luck and flight in one image. The reverence of the bow and the urgency of the departure together show Lakshmana's single-minded devotion to Rama's feet.
Soratha (11/13 matra pattern per line; the rhyme falls at the end of the first half, नाइ / तोराइ). Each line has an 11-matra first half and a 13-matra second half, reversing the doha. In line 2, तोराइ is counted loosely.
Utpreksha in 'मनहुँ ... मृगु' (Lakshmana imagined as a deer escaping a snare). Yamaka (pun) in the two 'भाग', one meaning fortune and the other meaning flees. Anuprasa in the repeated sounds of 'बागुर बिषम' and 'भाग ... भाग'. Rupaka-like suggestion in 'बागुर' standing for the bonds of attachment.
Lakshmana's flight from the snare of household bonds toward Rama's feet fits the Vishishtadvaita picture of the soul moving toward the Lord as his servant and body. The 'snare' is attachment, and the 'good fortune' that frees him is grace, not self-effort.
Raga Bhairavi, whose tender, yearning mood suits the mix of reverence, anxiety and relief in the departing Lakshmana.
मातु | चरन | सिरु | नाइ | चले | तुरत | संकित | हृदयँ |
बागुर | बिषम | तोराइ | मनहुँ | भाग | मृगु | भाग | बस ||
- बागुर
- जाल, फंदाOrigin: Sanskrit
- बिषम
- कठिन, भयंकरOrigin: Sanskrit
- तोराइ
- तोड़करOrigin: Awadhi
- संकित
- शंकित, डरा हुआOrigin: Sanskrit
- मृगु
- हिरनOrigin: Sanskrit
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The verse uses Sanskrit-derived words such as संकित (from shankita), हृदयँ (hridaya), बिषम (vishama), मृगु (mriga) and बागुर (vagura) beside plain Awadhi verbs like नाइ, चले, तोराइ and भाग. This mix gives a homely scene, a son leaving his mother, the dignity of scriptural diction. The simile of the deer and the snare is a folk image of hunters and forest, yet it is voiced in refined Sanskritic words. In this way the everyday 'Loka' act of taking leave becomes a 'Shastra'-level image of a soul slipping bondage. The listener needs no learning to follow it, but the register still carries the weight of the scriptures.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- This verse does not state a direct doctrine of Nama versus Rupa, and it should not be forced to do so. What it offers is the Saguna side of that teaching: the devotee turns toward the living Lord in his embodied form, and Lakshmana runs toward Rama and Sita in person. Even in this swift departure, the pull is toward feet (चरन) and presence, not an abstract idea. Tulsidas's wider claim that the Name and the Form are inseparable is only implied here, in that devotion needs a person to run toward. The verse is therefore best read as an example of the devotion that makes the Name and Form teaching meaningful.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- In the Kavi-Manas metaphor the poet's mind is a lake from which the narrative flows, and here it supplies a compact picture drawn from the forest. The deer and the snare come from the poet's wide observation of nature, and the two meanings of 'भाग' show the mind playing with words while it narrates. Tulsidas first places Lakshmana's actual fear (संकित हृदयँ) and then lets the lake of his mind yield the simile that explains it. The simile in 'मनहुँ' is thus a clear example of the poet's mind turning feeling into image. The poet never leaves the scene, because the comparison explains the emotion without interrupting the story.
FAQs
लक्ष्मण माता सुमित्रा के चरणों में सिर झुकाकर प्रणाम करते हैं और तुरंत चल पड़ते हैं। यह माता के प्रति आदर और विदा लेने की मर्यादा दिखाता है। उनका हृदय भीतर से शंकित है।
लक्ष्मण की तुलना उस हिरन से की गई है जो भाग्यवश भयंकर जाल को तोड़कर भाग निकलता है। जाल घर के मोह-बंधन का प्रतीक है, और भागना प्रभु राम की ओर तेज़ी से जाने का। यहाँ 'मनहुँ' शब्द उत्प्रेक्षा अलंकार का सूचक है।
पहला 'भाग' भाग्य के अर्थ में है और दूसरा 'भाग' भागने की क्रिया के अर्थ में। एक ही शब्द के दो भिन्न अर्थ होने से यहाँ यमक अलंकार है। इससे अर्थ यह बनता है कि हिरन भाग्य के वश जाल से निकलकर भाग गया।
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