Ramayana — Sundara Kanda, Sarga 12, Shloka 3
द्वादशः सर्गः — हनूमतः अन्तःपुरविचयः
Hanuman’s Search Through Ravana’s Inner Apartments
सा राक्षसानां प्रवरेण जानकीस्वशीलसंरक्ष्णतत्परा सती।अनेन नूनं प्रति दुष्टकर्मणाहता भवेदार्यपथे परे स्थिता।।।।
sā rākṣasānāṃ pravareṇa jānakī |
svaśīlasaṃrakṣṇatatparā satī |
anena nūnaṃ prati duṣṭakarmaṇā |
hatā bhaved āryapathe pare sthitā ||
「高き正道に堅く立ち、貞節を守ることに心を尽くすジャナキーは、きっとこの悪業の羅刹の首領に殺されたに違いない」――彼はそう恐れた。
'Janaki, follower of noble path, anxious to protect her chastity must have been killed by the wicked demon king.
FAQs
The verse foregrounds śīla (moral integrity) as dharma: Sītā’s commitment to chastity is treated as a noble path worth protecting even at the cost of life.
Unable to find Sītā, Hanumān imagines the worst—that Rāvaṇa may have killed her because she would not yield.
Sītā’s steadfast purity and Hanumān’s reverent recognition of it; he frames her as firmly established in ārya-dharma.