Shloka 37
कौशल्यारामसंवादः
Kausalya–Rama Dialogue on Exile-Dharma
अपीदानीं स कालस्स्याद्वनात्प्रत्यागतं पुनः।यत्त्वां पुत्रक पश्येयं जटावल्कलधारिणम्।।2.24.37।।
apīdānīṃ sa kālaḥ syād vanāt pratyāgataṃ punaḥ |
yat tvāṃ putraka paśyeyaṃ jaṭāvalkala-dhāriṇam || 2.24.37 ||
Andai sahaja saat itu menjadi hari ini: ketika engkau, anak kesayanganku, kembali dari rimba, agar aku dapat melihatmu berambut jaṭā dan berpakaian kulit kayu.
After your departure, O son, an incomparably huge fire of grief with sighs of exhaustion will burst from my body, fanned by the wind of your absence and fuelled by lamentation and affliction. My wailing tears will be the oblations. My anxiety will be the great smoke rising vapour. This fire of grief will leave me very much emaciated and burn me like fire burns a forest of dead trees or a bunch of dry grass in summer.
FAQs
The verse normalizes renunciation undertaken for truth and duty: even ascetic marks (jaṭā, valkala) become signs of dharmic endurance, awaited with reverence and longing.
Kausalyā expresses a wish that the future day of Rāma’s return from exile were already here, imagining him in ascetic attire.
Kausalyā’s hopeful perseverance; Rāma’s implied tapas-like discipline in accepting forest life.