Ramayana — Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 74, Shloka 27
भरतस्य कैकेयी-गर्हा तथा सुरभि-दृष्टान्तः
Bharata’s Reproach of Kaikeyi and the Surabhi Exemplum
सदाऽप्रतिमवृत्तायाः लोकधारणकाम्यया।श्रीमत्या गुणनित्याया स्स्वभावपरिचेष्टया।।।।यस्याः पुत्रसहस्राणि साऽपि शोचति कामधुक्।किं पुनर्या विना रामं कौसल्या वर्तयिष्यति।।।।
sadā ’pratimavṛttāyāḥ lokadhāraṇakāmyayā | śrīmatyā guṇanityāyā svabhāvapariceṣṭayā ||
yasyāḥ putrasahasrāṇi sā ’pi śocati kāmadhuk | kiṁ punar yā vinā rāmaṁ kausalyā vartayiṣyati ||
Maging si Kāmadhenu—laging walang kapantay ang asal, nagnanais magtaguyod sa mga daigdig, pinagpala at laging nananahan sa mga kabutihan, kumikilos ayon sa marangal na likas—ay nagdadalamhati, bagaman may sanlibong anak. Ano pa kaya si Kausalyā, na nahiwalay kay Rāma? Paano siya mabubuhay gaya ng dati?
Wishing always to nourish the worlds Kamadhenu conducts herself with an unequalled character. In accordance with her nature, she has imbibed in herself eminent virtues. She is endowed with all prosperity. In spite of her thousand sons, sheis weeping thus for her two bulls, what can one say of Kausalya separated from her only son! Will she be her normal self again?'
FAQs
Dharma is illuminated through analogy: if even a cosmic benefactress grieves for two suffering sons, the human mother’s sorrow at separation from a righteous son is morally and emotionally inevitable.
The text uses Surabhi’s grief to foreshadow and interpret Kausalyā’s anguish at losing Rama to exile.
Rāma’s value as a dharmic son is implied; the verse underscores the virtue of filial presence and the mother–son bond as central to household dharma.