Valmiki Ramayana 2.21.26: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 21, Shloka 26
अयोध्याकाण्डे एकविंशः सर्गः · Lakṣmaṇa’s militant counsel and Rāma’s dharma
based persuasion of Kausalyā
Spoken by Kausalya to RamaSetting: Ayodhyā palacePlaces named: vana (forest)
यदि त्वं यास्यसि वनं त्यक्त्वा मां शोकलालसाम् ।
अहं प्रायमिहासिष्ये न हि शक्ष्यामि जीवितुम् ॥२६॥
yadi tvaṃ yāsyasi vanaṃ tyaktvā māṃ śokalālasām |
ahaṃ prāyam ihāsiṣye na hi śakṣyāmi jīvitum ||26||
หากเจ้าจะไปสู่ป่า ทิ้งเราไว้ผู้กระหายด้วยความโศก เราจักทำปราโยปเวศะอยู่ที่นี่ คืออดอาหารจนสิ้นชีวิต เพราะแท้จริงเราไม่อาจมีชีวิตอยู่ได้
Sandhi Notes
- त्वं = त्वम्
- प्रायमिहासिष्ये = प्रायम् + इह + आसिष्ये
If you depart for the forest leaving me grief-stricken I cannot live. Here I shall seek death by fasting.
The teaching
When dharma decisions cause collateral suffering, compassion and responsibility intensify; grief can weaponize self-sacrifice, testing the steadfastness of dharma.
Duties in tension
- Rāma’s duty to fulfill exile vow/obedience
- Duty to preserve mother’s life and prevent self-harm
- Kaushalyā’s duty to endure and uphold household stability vs grief-driven prāya
- Ethical theme
- Conflict of duties; ethics of self-harm/prāya under emotional duress
For your practice
Prompts contemplation on steadiness (dhṛti) and non-violence toward self; encourages seeking sattvic support in grief rather than drastic vows.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Bhayanaka (fear)
- Mood
- Desperate, threatening-self-sacrifice, overwhelmed
Themes
- Dharma
- Grief
- Ethics
- Vow
- Renunciation
Shows the binding force of moha (delusion/attachment) leading toward self-destruction; contrasts with the ideal of equanimity (samatva).
- Kausalya and Rama
- Mother threatening prāya (fast unto death) due to separation (despairing)
- Kausalya and Death
- Self-willed exit as protest/last resort (fatalistic)
- Rama and Dharma
- Duty-bound actor confronted with collateral suffering (burdened (implied))
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa: Daśaratha’s death from grief after Rāma’s departure (Ayodhyākāṇḍa, thematic foreshadowing); Mahābhārata: prāyopaveśa as last resort in extreme dharma contexts (general parallel); Rāmacaritamānasa, Ayodhyākāṇḍa: intense grief leading to death-wish motifs (thematic)
Dharmaśāstra discussions on prāyopaveśa (contextual resonance, not explicit)
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: cascading grief in royal family due to exile decision
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Grieving
Ati-vilambita with heavy nyāsa on "na hi śakṣyāmi jīvitum"
FAQs
Kausalyā frames her life as inseparable from her dharmic relationship to Rāma; the threat of prāya underscores the moral weight she places on not being abandoned.
In desperation, Kausalyā warns that Rāma’s departure will lead her to fast unto death.
Intensity of maternal devotion (vātsalya) and the extremity of grief when dharmic bonds appear broken.
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Valmiki Ramayana in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Sanskrit recitation where available, and more.
