Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 74, Shloka 27
भरतस्य कैकेयी-गर्हा तथा सुरभि-दृष्टान्तः
Bharata’s Reproach of Kaikeyi and the Surabhi Exemplum
सदाऽप्रतिमवृत्तायाः लोकधारणकाम्यया।श्रीमत्या गुणनित्याया स्स्वभावपरिचेष्टया।।।।यस्याः पुत्रसहस्राणि साऽपि शोचति कामधुक्।किं पुनर्या विना रामं कौसल्या वर्तयिष्यति।।।।
sadā ’pratimavṛttāyāḥ lokadhāraṇakāmyayā | śrīmatyā guṇanityāyā svabhāvapariceṣṭayā ||
yasyāḥ putrasahasrāṇi sā ’pi śocati kāmadhuk | kiṁ punar yā vinā rāmaṁ kausalyā vartayiṣyati ||
たとえカーマデーヌでさえ——比類なき行いを常とし、諸世界を支えんと願い、福徳に満ち、つねに徳に住し、その高貴なる本性のままに振る舞う者——千人の子を持ちながら嘆き悲しむ。ましてラーマを離れたカウサリヤーはどうして以前のように生きられようか。
Wishing always to nourish the worlds Kamadhenu conducts herself with an unequalled character. In accordance with her nature, she has imbibed in herself eminent virtues. She is endowed with all prosperity. In spite of her thousand sons, sheis weeping thus for her two bulls, what can one say of Kausalya separated from her only son! Will she be her normal self again?'
FAQs
Dharma is illuminated through analogy: if even a cosmic benefactress grieves for two suffering sons, the human mother’s sorrow at separation from a righteous son is morally and emotionally inevitable.
The text uses Surabhi’s grief to foreshadow and interpret Kausalyā’s anguish at losing Rama to exile.
Rāma’s value as a dharmic son is implied; the verse underscores the virtue of filial presence and the mother–son bond as central to household dharma.