Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 35, Shloka 21
सुमन्त्रस्य कैकेयी-निन्दा
Sumantra’s Reproof of Kaikeyi in the Royal Assembly
तत्र ते जननी क्रुद्धा मृत्युपाशमभीप्सती।हासं ते नृपते सौम्य जिज्ञासामीति चाब्रवीत्।।2.35.21।।
tatra te jananī kruddhā mṛtyu-pāśam abhīpsatī |
hāsaṃ te nṛpate saumya jijñāsāmīti cābravīt ||2.35.21||
அப்போது உன் தாய் கோபமுற்று, மரணப் பாசத்தையே நாடுபவள்போல் கூறினாள்—“அருள்மிகு அரசே, உமது இந்த நகைப்பின் காரணத்தை நான் அறிய விரும்புகிறேன்.”
Then one day near his bed your highly brilliant father laughed repeatedly over what an ant or a bird said, for he knew the meaning from its sound.
FAQs
Dharma in relationships requires honest communication tempered by compassion; suspicion and anger distort truth-seeking into coercion.
In the backstory, Kaikeyi’s mother confronts her husband, demanding the cause of his laughter after he understood an animal’s speech through a boon.
The virtue is indirectly highlighted by contrast: the episode warns against impulsive anger and the erosion of trust, both enemies of dharmic household harmony.