Valmiki Ramayana 2.21.60: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 21, Shloka 60
अयोध्याकाण्डे एकविंशः सर्गः · Lakṣmaṇa’s militant counsel and Rāma’s dharma
based persuasion of Kausalyā
Spoken by Rama to KausalyaSetting: Ayodhyā (implied royal household)
तस्मिन्पुनर्जीवति धर्मराजे विशेषतस्स्वे पथि वर्तमाने ।
देवी मया सार्धमितोऽपगच्छेत् कथं स्विदन्या विधवेव नारी ॥६०॥
tasmin punar jīvati dharmarāje viśeṣatas sve pathi vartamāne |
devī mayā sārdham ito 'pagacchet kathaṁ svid anyā vidhaveva nārī ||60||
Khi vị vua công chính ấy còn sống lại—nhất là khi Người vẫn vững bước trên con đường chánh pháp của mình—làm sao Hoàng hậu có thể rời nơi này cùng ta, như một người đàn bà khác, tựa kẻ góa phụ?
Sandhi Notes
- Sandhi resolution: तस्मिन्पुनर्जीवति → तस्मिन् + पुनः + जीवति
- विशेषतस्स्वे → विशेषतः + स्वे
- इतोऽपगच्छेत् → इतः + अपगच्छेत्
- विधवेव → विधवा + इव
- धर्मराजेviśeṣatas... treated as धर्मराजे + विशेषतः (no additional sandhi beyond punctuation)
While the righteous king is living, more importantly treading the righteous path, howcan mother Kausalya, like an ordinary widow, accompany me leaving this city?
The teaching
So long as rightful order stands, do not falsify relationships or rites for convenience; dharma is preserved by truthful conduct in small social acts as much as in great vows.
Duties in tension
- Obedience to queen’s demand vs. propriety toward living king
- Personal hardship acceptance vs. maintaining social-ritual truth (not treating a wife as widow)
- Ethical theme
- Satya-maryādā (truthful propriety)
- How it resolves
- Maryādā-based refusal (upholding dharma through correct designation and conduct)
For your practice
Practice of satya and restraint in speech: refusing to validate adharma by words/labels; mindfulness of relational dharma.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Shanta (peace), with Karuna (compassion)
- Mood
- Principled, grave, self-restrained
Themes
- Dharma
- Maryādā
- Family order
- Social ethics
Dharma as sustaining order (ṛta/dharma) that upholds social reality; acting without transgressing one’s svadharma despite personal pressure.
Bṛhadāraṇyaka/Chāndogya-style emphasis on satya-dharma as the ground of order: one does not step outside truth-propriety while the rightful order still stands.
- Rama and Dasharatha
- Son-father; heir-king (reverent)
- Rama and Kaikeyi
- Stepson-stepmother; queen-consort of father (restrained)
- Kaikeyi and Dasharatha
- Wife-husband; queen-king (duty-bound)
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.21 context: Rāma’s refusal to treat the queen as a widow while Daśaratha lives; Rāmacaritamānasa Ayodhyākāṇḍa: Rāma’s maryādā and refusal of adharma even under Kaikeyī’s demand
Dharmaśāstra notions: a wife is not a widow while husband lives; royal women’s movement governed by propriety
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: repeated epithet of Daśaratha as dhārmika; Rāma’s insistence on satya and maryādā in exile decision
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Solemn
Madhyama-gati, niṣāda-saṃyukta nyāsa on dharma-words
FAQs
Dharma is framed as maintaining proper familial and social order: a wife should not be treated as widowed while her husband lives, and a son should not disrupt that order.
Rāma discourages Kauśalyā from accompanying him into exile, arguing it would be improper while Daśaratha is still alive and righteous.
Rāma’s sensitivity to maryādā (propriety) and his protective concern for his mother’s dignity and social standing.
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