Valmiki Ramayana 2.35.21 — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 35, Shloka 21
सुमन्त्रस्य कैकेयी-निन्दा
Sumantra’s Reproof of Kaikeyi in the Royal Assembly
तत्र ते जननी क्रुद्धा मृत्युपाशमभीप्सती।हासं ते नृपते सौम्य जिज्ञासामीति चाब्रवीत्।।2.35.21।।
tatra te jananī kruddhā mṛtyu-pāśam abhīpsatī |
hāsaṃ te nṛpate saumya jijñāsāmīti cābravīt ||2.35.21||
അവിടെ നിങ്ങളുടെ ജനനി ക്രുദ്ധയായി, മരണപാശം തേടുന്നതുപോലെ, പറഞ്ഞു: “സൗമ്യനായ രാജാവേ, നിങ്ങളുടെ ചിരിയുടെ കാരണം ഞാൻ അറിയാൻ ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നു.”
Then one day near his bed your highly brilliant father laughed repeatedly over what an ant or a bird said, for he knew the meaning from its sound.
FAQs
Dharma in relationships requires honest communication tempered by compassion; suspicion and anger distort truth-seeking into coercion.
In the backstory, Kaikeyi’s mother confronts her husband, demanding the cause of his laughter after he understood an animal’s speech through a boon.
The virtue is indirectly highlighted by contrast: the episode warns against impulsive anger and the erosion of trust, both enemies of dharmic household harmony.
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