Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 9, Shloka 60
मन्थराप्रेरणा—वरद्वय-स्मरणं च
Manthara’s Provocation and the Recalling of Two Boons
अथो पुनस्तां महिषीं महीक्षितोवचोभिरत्यर्थमहापराक्रमैः।उवाच कुब्जा भरतस्य मातरंहितं वचो राममुपेत्य चाहितम्।।।।
atho punas tāṃ mahiṣīṃ mahīkṣito vacobhir atyartha-mahā-parākramaiḥ | uvāca kubjā bharatasya mātaraṃ hitaṃ vaco rāmam upetya cāhitam ||
そしてまた、せむし女はその王妃—王の妃にしてバラタの母—に、激しい勢いの言葉で語りかけた。バラタの益と称しつつ、ラーマに及べば害となる言葉であった。
Addressing queen Kaikeyi, the mother of Bharata, with extremely powerful words, that hunchback again made these utterances beneficial to Bharata and detrimental to Rama:
FAQs
It underscores vāk-dharma: powerful speech must be measured by truth and universal welfare; ‘benefit’ to one party achieved through harm to the righteous is ethically suspect.
The narration frames Mantharā’s renewed argumentation: she speaks forcefully to steer Kaikeyī toward Bharata’s enthronement and against Rāma.
The verse spotlights rhetorical power (parākrama in speech), but as a morally ambivalent capacity when severed from dharma.