Valmiki Ramayana 2.97.16: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 97, Shloka 16
भरतागमनशङ्कानिवारणम् / Dispelling Suspicion about Bharata’s Arrival
Chitrakuta Encampment
Spoken by Rama to LakshmanaSetting: Chitrakuta region (forest)Places named: Chitrakuta
कथं नु पुत्राः पितरं हन्युः कस्यां चिदापदि ।
भ्राता वा भ्रातरं हन्यात्सौमित्रे प्राणमात्मनः ॥१६॥
kathaṃ nu putrāḥ pitaraṃ hanyuḥ kasyāṃ cid āpadi |
bhrātā vā bhrātaraṃ hanyāt saumitre prāṇam ātmanaḥ ||16||
ఓ సౌమిత్రీ! ఏ విపత్తు వచ్చినా కుమారులు తండ్రిని ఎలా హతమార్చగలరు? లేదా సోదరుడు తన ప్రాణంలా ప్రియమైన సోదరుణ్ని ఎలా చంపగలడు?॥
Sandhi Notes
- kathaṅ = katham
- pitaraṅ = pitaram
- kasyāṅ cidāpadi = kasyām cit āpadi
- hanyātsaumitrē = hanyāt saumitre
- prāṇamātmanaḥ = prāṇam ātmanaḥ
Whatever be the calamity, O Lakshmana, how will sons slay their father, or a brother kill his own brother who is as dear to him as his own life?
The teaching
Even in crisis, dharma forbids violence against father and brother; kinship bonds are life-dear and morally binding.
Duties in tension
- Political anxiety about succession
- Inviolable duties toward father and brother
- Ethical theme
- Kuladharma / pitṛ-dharma / ahiṃsā
- How it resolves
- Appeal to foundational dharma norms (kinship non-violence)
For your practice
Encourages śānti through dharma-smṛti; supports cultivation of forgiveness and trust within family/community.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Shanta (peace), with Vira (heroism)
- Mood
- Principled, grave, fraternal
Themes
- Dharma
- Family Duty
- Non-violence
- Ethics
- Maryada
Prāṇa as most cherished; analogy underscores that what is ‘self-like’ should not be harmed—an ethical extension of self-regard.
Prāṇa’s centrality recalls Upaniṣadic prāṇa-vidyā; here used to express supreme dearness.
- Rama and Lakshmana
- Elder brother teaching moral impossibility of kin-slaying
- sons and Father
- Filial duty vs violence (negated)
- brother and brother
- Fraternal bond likened to one’s own life
- Lakshmana and Bharata
- Implied: Lakshmana’s fear of Bharata refuted (mixed)
Valmiki Ramayana: Ayodhya-kanda themes of pitṛ-vākya-paripālana (obedience to father’s word); Mahābhārata: kin-slaying as adharma and source of ruin (general parallel)
Vedic/Smṛti valuation of pitṛ-r̥ṇa and filial duty
Rama’s own obedience to Daśaratha’s command as lived proof against the idea of harming father/brother
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Solemn
Deep, slow cadence; emphasis on rhetorical questions
FAQs
Dharma upholds the sanctity of family bonds: patricide and fratricide are portrayed as almost unthinkable, even in crisis.
Rama argues against Lakshmana’s fear-driven assumptions, stressing that close kin do not turn murderous in righteous families.
Rama’s commitment to maryādā (moral boundaries) and faith in familial righteousness.
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