Valmiki Ramayana 2.30.22: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 30, Shloka 22
सीताया वनानुगमननिश्चयः · Sita’s Resolve to Accompany Rama to the Forest
Setting: Ayodhyā palace—inner chamberPlaces named: Ayodhyā
इति सा शोकसन्तप्ता विलप्य करुणं बहु ।
चुक्रोश पतिमायस्ता भृशमालिङ्ग्य सस्वरम् ॥२२॥
iti sā śoka-santaptā vilapya karuṇaṃ bahu |
cukrośa patim āyastā bhṛśam āliṅgya sasvaram ||22||
Demikianlah, disiksa oleh dukacita, dia meratap dengan pilu berpanjangan; kemudian, keletihan, dia memeluk suaminya erat-erat dan menjerit dengan suara lantang.
Sandhi Notes
- शोकसन्तप्ता = शोक + सन्तप्ता (तत्पुरुष)
- भृशमालिङ्ग्य = भृशम् + आलिङ्ग्य
Tormented with grief, Sita piteously and profusely lamented, and then exhausted, embraced her husband tightly and cried bitterly.
The teaching
Unprocessed grief breaks social form; compassion arises when one sees the human cost behind political vows.
Duties in tension
- Royal composure (maryādā) vs personal grief expression
- Spousal support vs political-ethical consequences of prior demands (contextual)
- Ethical theme
- Śoka-niyantraṇa vs āvega; compassion ethics
- How it resolves
- Emotional outburst (no dharmic resolution)
For your practice
Bhāva-śuddhi: witnessing intense emotion without acting harmfully; useful for cultivating karuṇā and self-restraint.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion)
- Mood
- Wailing, helpless, clinging
Themes
- Dharma
- Maryada
- Itihasa
- Ethics
- Pathos
- Marital bond
When buddhi is overrun by śoka, the body acts as the instrument of the mind’s clinging; the scene shows identification with relational supports rather than the witnessing self.
Bṛhadāraṇyaka’s theme: what one loves becomes one’s world; loss threatens the world itself (thematic echo).
- Kaikeyi and Dasharatha
- Wife clinging to husband; physical seeking of refuge (piteous attachment)
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.30.23-24 (tears imagery); Mahābhārata: lament scenes where women embrace and wail (thematic parallel)
Classical kāvya convention of vilāpa and āliṅgana in viraha
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: Daśaratha’s later vilāpa for Rāma mirrors this bodily collapse
Anuṣṭup
Grieving
Raised volume on ‘cukrośa’ with a brief kampita (tremor) effect; then soften on ‘āliṅgya’
FAQs
Dharma in the epic includes compassion for suffering: the narration validates the moral weight of grief within righteous life, not merely external rule-following.
After pleading to accompany Rāma, Sītā breaks down, embraces him, and weeps loudly from exhaustion and sorrow.
Depth of attachment and sincerity—her emotions are portrayed as genuine, not theatrical.
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