Ramcharitmanas: Bala Kanda, Prakarana 2
दोहा 10(क)-(ख)
सोपान-प्रवेश (Staircase-Threshold): नाम-कीर्ति-स्तुति के द्वारा चित्त-शुद्धि और श्रद्धा का जन्म। बालकाण्ड यहाँ ‘कथा आरंभ’ मात्र नहीं, बल्कि साधक के भीतर ‘राम-नाम’ को आधार (आलंबन) बनाकर कलि-मल-नाश और सत्संग-प्रवृत्ति की प्रथम सीढ़ी है—जहाँ प्राकृत/लोकभाषा भी वेद-सार बनकर उद्धार-मार्ग हो जाती है।
प्रिय लागिहि अति सबहि मम भनिति राम जस संग।दारु बिचारु कि करइ कोउ बंदिअ मलय प्रसंग।।10(क)।।
स्याम सुरभि पय बिसद अति गुनद करहिं सब पान।गिरा ग्राम्य सिय राम जस गावहिं सुनहिं सुजान।।10(ख)।।
priya lāgihi ati sabahi mama bhaṇiti rāma jasa saṅga |dāru bicāru ki karai kou bandia malaya prasaṅga ||10(ka)||
syāma surabhi paya bisada ati gunada karahiṁ saba pāna |girā grāmya siya rāma jasa gāvahiṁ sunahiṁ sujāna ||10(kha)||
मेरी कविता राम की महिमा के साथ जुडी है तो सबको बहुत प्यारी लगेगी। मलय पहाद से जब लकडी आती है तो कोई ये नहीं सोचता कि कौनसी लकडी है। चंदन के जंगल के साथ जुडने की वजह से उसकी इज्जत होती है। गाय का रंग काला हो सकता है पर उसका दूध बिलकुल साफ है और गुण से भरा है, सब लोग पीते हैं। वैसे ही मेरी भाषा सिंपल है पर ये सीता और राम की महिमा गाती है, और समझदार लोग इसे सुनेंगे और गायेंगे।
Speaker
Tulsidas (narrator)
Listener
General audience, especially the wise and saintly readers
Dasya (humility of the devotee-poet), with a Shanta undertone
The scene
The prasanga
In the opening invocation of Bala Kanda, Tulsidas has just said that his verse, joined to the Lord's glory, will please good people. Here he answers the worry that his rustic speech is unworthy, using the sandal-wood and the dark cow's milk as examples.
The teaching
- Themes
- कवि की विनम्रता, संगति का प्रभाव, गुण की पहचान, रूप की नहीं, ग्राम्य भाषा में राम-यश, सुजन-श्रोता और संत-समाज, सीता-राम की महिमा
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
The verse teaches that people and things should be judged by their virtue and their company, not by outward appearance, birth or rank. In Ramrajya, the sandal is honoured whatever the wood, the cow's milk is drunk whatever her colour, and the humble speech of the people is honoured when it carries dharma.
Nirguna and saguna
The glory of Sita and Rama (siya rama jasa) is the manifest, nameable form of the Lord that enters ordinary rustic speech (girā grāmya). Through it, the unseen purifying power of the Divine becomes something people can hear, sing and drink in, as pure milk comes from a dark cow.
Tulsidas answers the doubt that his rustic verse may be unworthy of the Lord's glory. He says his verse, joined to Rama's glory, will seem very dear to all, just as nobody asks what wood a sandal log is once it has come from Malaya, since its association gives it honour. In the second half he gives the example of a dark cow whose milk is nonetheless white and pure, and everyone drinks it. In the same way his speech, though rustic, sings the glory of Sita and Rama, and so the wise will listen to it and sing it.
Soratha (11/13 matra pattern per line, with rhyme in the middle of the line, the reverse of the Doha). Line 1 breaks as 'प्रिय लागिहि अति सबहि' (11) and 'मम भनिति राम जस संग' (13).
Drishtanta (illustration by example): the sandal-wood (दारु, मलय) and the dark cow's milk (स्याम सुरभि, पय बिसद) stand as examples for the poet's verse. Arthantaranyasa: a general truth, that worth comes from association, is supported by the particular instance. Rhetorical question (प्रश्नालंकार): 'दारु बिचारु कि करइ कोउ'. Virodhabhasa (apparent contradiction): 'स्याम' against 'बिसद', and 'ग्राम्य' against 'सिय राम जस'. Anuprasa (alliteration): 'सुरभि ... सब', 'गावहिं सुनहिं सुजान'.
The verse reads in the Vishishtadvaita spirit: the poet's rough speech has no worth of its own and takes all its value from its relation to the Lord's glory, as a part takes its worth from the whole. Worth comes from association (prasanga, sanga) with Sita and Rama, not from the poet's own skill or birth.
Raga Bhairavi, whose gentle and humble character suits the poet's modesty and the plain image of milk and sandal. Raga Pahadi is also fitting for the simple rustic tone.
इस दोहे में Awadhi के प्रमुख रूप-लक्षण दिखते हैं: (1) भविष्यत्/निश्चयार्थ क्रिया-रूप ‘लागिहि’ में ‘-हि’ प्रत्यय; (2) वर्तमान क्रिया ‘करइ’ में ‘-इ’ अंत; (3) सर्वनाम/समष्टिवाचक ‘सबहि’ में ‘-हि’ (oblique/कारक-रूप) — मानक हिंदी ‘सबको’; (4) ‘कोउ’ (कोई) लोक-रूप; (5) ध्वनि-परिवर्तन ‘विचार→बिचार’, ‘यश→जस’; (6) कृदन्त विशेषण ‘बंदिअ’ में Awadhi ‘-इअ’ प्रकार; (7) ‘बिचारु’ में ‘-ु’ अंत छंदानुकूल/काव्य-रूढ़ि के रूप में। समग्र अर्थ-रचना में ‘राम जस संग’ कारण-सम्बन्ध और ‘दारु…मलय प्रसंग’ उपमा द्वारा कवि-वाणी की प्रियता सिद्ध की गई है।
प्रिय | लागिहि | अति | सबहि | मम | भनिति | राम | जस | संग |
दारु | बिचारु | कि | करइ | कोउ | बंदिअ | मलय | प्रसंग ||
स्याम | सुरभि | पय | बिसद | अति | गुनद | करहिं | सब | पान |
गिरा | ग्राम्य | सिय-राम | जस | गावहिं | सुनहिं | सुजान ||
- भनिति
- कविता, रचना, काव्यमय वाणीOrigin: Sanskrit
- दारु
- लकड़ी, काष्ठOrigin: Sanskrit
- मलय
- मलय पर्वत, जहाँ चंदन के वृक्ष होते हैंOrigin: Sanskrit
- सुरभि
- गाय (कामधेनु), सुगंधOrigin: Sanskrit
- ग्राम्य
- गाँव की, देहाती, गँवारूOrigin: Sanskrit
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The verse mixes colloquial Awadhi forms such as लागिहि, करइ, कोउ and गावहिं with Sanskrit-derived words such as प्रिय, प्रसंग, बिसद, गुनद, ग्राम्य and सुजान. This gives a village idiom a dignified, scriptural tone without losing its everyday ease. The poet calls his own language 'गिरा ग्राम्य', rustic speech, yet places it beside 'सिय राम जस', the theme that makes scripture holy. In this way the loka is not replaced by shastra but is raised by contact with it, just as the verse says the sandal is honoured through 'मलय प्रसंग'.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- This verse does not argue about Nama and Rupa directly, but it sets out the principle on which that doctrine depends: worth comes from association with Rama. The phrase 'राम जस संग' says the glory of Rama, which is sung and heard by name, makes the humble verse dear to all. The glory (jasa) is the Lord's form made audible, so speech that carries it becomes pure and nourishing, like the milk 'पय बिसद अति गुनद'. The teaching is that the sacred does not have to wait for refined language, because the Lord's glory sanctifies whatever speech carries it.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- The verse shows the poet's mind as a place of humility, where he sets his own plain speech (गिरा ग्राम्य) beside the greatness of his theme. The images of sandal-wood and a dark cow's milk are drawn from the village and the forest, so the poet's inner world is rooted in ordinary rural experience. The lake of the mind is filled not by the poet's skill but by the waters of Rama's glory, which flow into it through 'राम जस संग'. What comes out of the mind is therefore something everyone can drink ('करहिं सब पान'), and the wise (सुजान) come to it to sing and to listen.
FAQs
तुलसीदास कहते हैं कि उनकी भनिति राम के यश के साथ जुड़ी है, इसलिए वह सबको अत्यंत प्रिय लगेगी। कविता की अपनी योग्यता नहीं, बल्कि 'राम जस संग' ही उसे आदर देता है।
मलय पर्वत से आई लकड़ी के बारे में कोई यह नहीं पूछता कि वह किस प्रकार की लकड़ी है, क्योंकि चंदन-वन की संगति से वह वंदनीय हो जाती है। इसी प्रकार राम-यश की संगति से कवि की साधारण वाणी भी पूज्य हो जाती है।
गाय का रंग काला (स्याम) होने पर भी उसका दूध अत्यंत उज्ज्वल, शुद्ध और गुणकारी होता है, और सब उसे पीते हैं। वैसे ही कवि की भाषा ग्राम्य होने पर भी सीता-राम का यश गाती है, इसलिए सुजान उसे सुनते और गाते हैं। शिक्षा यह है कि गुण देखा जाता है, बाहरी रूप नहीं।
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.
