Valmiki Ramayana 2.45.5: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 45, Shloka 5
अयोध्यावासिजनानुरागः · The People and Brahmins Follow Rama toward Exile
Setting: Near Ayodhyā during the departure gatheringPlaces named: AyodhyāFarewell moment before proceeding deeper toward the forest
अवेक्षमाणः सस्नेहं चक्षुषा प्रपिबन्निव ।
उवाच रामः स्नेहेन ताः प्रजाः स्वाः प्रजा इव ॥५॥
avekṣamāṇaḥ sa-snehaṃ cakṣuṣā prapibann iva |
uvāca rāmaḥ snehena tāḥ prajāḥ svāḥ prajā iva ||5||
Patrząc na nich z miłością - jakby pijąc ich wzrokiem - Rama przemówił czule do ludzi, jak do własnych dzieci.
Sandhi Notes
- prapibanniva = prapiban + iva
Looking at the people with love as if they were his own children and as thoughdrinking them with his glances, Rama appealed to them:
The teaching
Tenderness need not weaken resolve; one can comfort others while remaining firm in dharma.
Duties in tension
- Compassionate responsiveness to citizens’ sorrow
- Commitment to exile-duty and larger dharma order
- Ethical theme
- Rāja-dharma (prajā-vātsalya)
- How it resolves
- Compassionate reassurance without abandoning duty
For your practice
Bhāvanā on Rāma’s karuṇā: cultivate compassionate speech and attentive presence during separations and hardships.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Shringara (love)
- Mood
- Affectionate, tearful, intimate
Themes
- Dharma
- Compassion
- Rāja-dharma
- Maryādā
- Itihasa
- Ethics
The ‘seeing’ that absorbs suggests contemplative attention; love without possession—recognizing beings as one’s charge yet releasing them to dharma.
Subtle echo of the primacy of dṛṣṭi (seeing/awareness) as intimate knowing; compassion arising from inner steadiness.
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.40–2.47 (citizens’ lament and Rāma’s consoling speech sequence)
Rāja-nīti ideals of the king as guardian/father of subjects (later echoed in dharmaśāstra and itihāsa)
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: repeated imagery of mutual affection between Rāma and citizens
Anuṣṭup
Grieving
Madhyama with soft glide on "snehen" and "prapibanniva"
FAQs
The dharma of leadership includes compassion: even while fulfilling a hard duty, Rāma responds to his people with parental care and emotional responsibility.
On the path of exile, Rāma sees the grieving citizens and prepares to address them, acknowledging their love and pain.
Empathy and protective affection: Rāma treats the subjects not merely as a crowd, but as dependents worthy of tenderness.
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