Valmiki Ramayana 2.8.4: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 8, Shloka 4
मन्थराकैकेयीसंवादः · Mantharā’s Counsel to Kaikeyī
Ayodhyā’s Succession Alarm
Spoken by Manthara to KaikeyiSetting: Ayodhyā (Daśaratha’s inner apartments)
शोचामि दुर्मतित्वं ते का हि प्राज्ञा प्रहर्षयेत् ।
अरेस्सपत्नीपुत्रस्य वृद्धिं मृत्योरिवागताम् ॥४॥
śocāmi durmatitvaṃ te kā hi prājñā praharṣayet |
areḥ sapatnīputrasya vṛddhiṃ mṛtyor ivāgatām ||4||
Aku berdukacita atas fikiranmu yang tersasar. Wanita bijaksana manakah yang akan bersukacita melihat meningkatnya anak isteri sekutu—seumpama musuh—sedangkan peningkatan itu datang bagaikan maut yang mendekat?
Sandhi Notes
- areḥsapatnīputrasya → areḥ + sapatnīputrasya
- mṛtyorivāgatām → mṛtyoḥ + iva + āgatām.
I pity your false notion. Will any wise woman rejoice at the prosperity of the son of a co-wife who is like an enemy? This is like (courting) death.
The teaching
Jealousy reframes another’s rightful prosperity as one’s own annihilation; such ‘durmati’ is the seed of adharma.
Duties in tension
- Queenly duty to uphold royal succession and harmony
- Maternal duty to secure Bharata’s future
- Ethical duty to avoid envy and injustice toward Rāma
- Ethical theme
- Rājadharma vs. personal attachment (moha/mātsarya)
For your practice
Contemplation on envy and fear as inner ‘mṛtyu’; cultivate śānti and goodwill (maitrī) toward perceived rivals.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Bhayanaka (fear)
- Mood
- Bitter foreboding, jealous grief, fatalistic
Themes
- Dharma
- Ethics
- Jealousy
- Court Politics
- Adharma (warning sign)
- Itihasa
Avidyā-driven identification with power and lineage produces duḥkha; the ‘other’s rise’ is misread as ‘my death’ (adhyāsa).
Kaṭha Upaniṣad’s mṛtyu-bhaya motif: fear of death arises from attachment; wisdom would not ‘rejoice’ in what binds.
- Kaikeyi and Manthara
- Queen and confidante/instigator (reproachful)
- Kaikeyi and Rama
- Stepmother and stepson (co-wife’s son) (adversarial)
- Kaikeyi and Kausalya
- Co-wives (sapatnī) (rivalrous)
- Kaikeyi and Bharata
- Mother and son (protective-anxious)
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.8 (Mantharā–Kaikeyī saṃvāda) thematic parallels to 2.9–2.10 (boon-demand escalation)
Nīti-śāstra commonplaces: envy of a rival wife’s son; ‘prosperity like death’ as hyperbole
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: Daśaratha’s decision to crown Rāma (2.4–2.6) as the trigger for Kaikeyī’s fear
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Grieving
Mandra-niṣāda to madhyama, with kampita on ‘mṛtyoriva’
FAQs
The verse frames jealousy toward a co-wife’s child as self-destructive, implying a dharmic warning: envy and factionalism in family life corrode right judgment and invite ruin.
Mantharā begins persuading Kaikeyī that Rāma’s impending rise threatens her interests, urging suspicion toward Kausalyā’s son.
Negatively, it highlights the need for viveka (discernment). A ‘wise’ person should not celebrate or fuel hostility within the royal household.
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