Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 24, Shloka 13
कौशल्यारामसंवादः
Kausalya–Rama Dialogue on Exile-Dharma
यावज्जीवति काकुत्स्थः पिता मे जगतीपतिः।शुश्रूषा क्रियतां तावत्सहि धर्मस्सनातनः।।2.24.13।।
yāvaj jīvati kākutsthaḥ pitā me jagatīpatiḥ | śuśrūṣā kriyatāṃ tāvat sa hi dharmas sanātanaḥ ||
ਜਦ ਤੱਕ ਧਰਤੀ ਦੇ ਪਤੀ ਕਾਕੁਤਸਥ ਮੇਰੇ ਪਿਤਾ ਜੀਵਤ ਹਨ, ਤਦ ਤੱਕ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੀ ਸੇਵਾ-ਸ਼ੁਸ਼ਰੂਸ਼ਾ ਕਰਨੀ ਚਾਹੀਦੀ ਹੈ; ਇਹੀ ਸਨਾਤਨ ਧਰਮ ਹੈ॥
As long as the king, my father, the lord of the earth, a descendant of Kakutshta lives, you shall serve him. This is eternal virtue (in a woman).
FAQs
Attentive service to one’s spouse/elder and sustaining the household-king is presented as an ‘eternal’ moral obligation—dharma expressed as care, not merely rule-following.
Rāma instructs Kauśalyā that her duty is to remain with and serve Daśaratha while he lives, despite the impending exile.
Rāma’s reverence for elders and his insistence that dharma continues through service, even when circumstances are unjust.