Valmiki Ramayana 2.47.7: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 47, Shloka 7
अयोध्यायाः पौरविलापः
Lament of the Citizens of Ayodhya on Rama’s Absence
Spoken by Citizens of AyodhyaSetting: Ayodhyā (at the spot of lament)
इहैव निधनं यामो महाप्रस्थानमेव वा ।
रामेण रहितानां हि किमर्थं जीवितं हि नः ॥७॥
ihaiva nidhanaṃ yāmo mahāprasthānam eva vā |
rāmeṇa rahitānāṃ hi kimarthaṃ jīvitaṃ hi naḥ ||7||
آؤ ہم یہیں جان دے دیں—یا پھر آخری سفر (مہاپرَستان) کو روانہ ہو جائیں؛ کیونکہ رام کے بغیر ہماری زندگی کا کیا مصرف ہے؟
Sandhi Notes
- इहैव = इह + एव
We all will die here. We will go on the everlasting journey to death. Of what use is this life to us without Rama?
The teaching
Attachment can distort judgment; devotion must mature into steadfast support of dharma rather than self-destruction.
Duties in tension
- Duty to preserve life and serve the kingdom
- Emotional loyalty to Rāma overriding self-preservation
- Social responsibility vs. suicidal resolve
- Ethical theme
- Saṃvega vs. ahiṃsā/self-preservation
- How it resolves
- Unresolved (extreme lament; later redirected toward endurance and service)
Devotion and practice
Shows intensity of ananya-bhakti (single-point devotion), but also warns practitioners to balance emotion with dharmic steadiness.
- Deity praised
- Rāma
- Form of praise
- Vandana (salutation)
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Bhayanaka (fear)
- Mood
- Desperate, nihilistic, devoted
Themes
- Dharma
- Satya
- Itihasa
- Ethics
- Despair
- Devotion
- Meaning of life
When the perceived support (ālambana) is removed, the mind declares life meaningless—pointing to the need to ground meaning in the imperishable Self rather than contingent presence.
Katha Upaniṣad’s ‘path’ imagery toward death and the question of what is truly worth choosing; here choice is driven by grief rather than discernment.
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa Ayodhyākāṇḍa: citizens’ readiness to follow Rāma or die (near 2.46–2.48)
Mahābhārata: ‘mahāprasthānika’ theme of final journey (Mahāprasthānika-parvan)
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: repeated motif—life in Ayodhyā becomes void without Rāma
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Grieving
Ati-mandra with kampita (trembling cadence)
FAQs
It reveals how dharma is experienced as moral orientation: without the righteous exemplar, people feel life loses direction and value.
In extreme grief, the citizens speak of death as preferable to living without Rāma.
Rāma’s role as a sustaining moral center for society—his presence gives people hope and purpose.
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