Valmiki Ramayana 2.39.29: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 39, Shloka 29
एकोनचत्वारिंशः सर्गः · Dasaratha’s Lament, Sumantra’s Commission, and Sita’s Vow of Marital Dharma
Spoken by Sita to KausalyaSetting: Ayodhya (palace discourse setting)
नातन्त्री वाद्यते वीणा नाचक्रो वर्तते रथः ।
नापतिस्सुखमेधेत या स्यादपि शतात्मजा ॥२९॥
nātantrī vādyate vīṇā nācakro vartate rathaḥ |
nā patiḥ sukham edheta yā syād api śatātmajā ||29||
无弦之维那琴（vīṇā）不可奏；无轮之车不可行。同样，失去丈夫的女子也难以在安乐中兴盛，即便她有百子。
Sandhi Notes
- na atantrī (नातन्त्री)
- na acakraḥ (नाचक्रो)
- na apatiḥ (नापतिस्)
- sukham edheta (सुखमेधेत)
A veena (lute) sans strings cannot be played. A chariot without wheels cannot move. Similarly, a woman without her husband finds no happiness even though she has one hundred sons.
The teaching
In worldly life, certain supports are constitutive: without the proper means, function and happiness do not arise.
- Ethical theme
- Householder ethics (gṛhastha-dharma)
For your practice
Useful for reflecting on responsibilities and mutual support in household life; not directly theistic.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Shanta (peace)
- Mood
- Didactic, analogical, measured
Themes
- Dharma
- Strīdharma
- Maryādā
- Ethics
- Family order
Upādhi-based completeness: worldly flourishing depends on supportive conditions; contrasts with ātman’s completeness (pūrṇatā) beyond relations.
Bṛhadāraṇyaka’s household discussions on companionship and progeny as worldly aims (though ultimate self is beyond).
- Sita and Rama
- Implied exemplar of wife’s flourishing with husband (devoted)
Rāmāyaṇa 2.27 (Sītā’s analogies asserting necessity of accompanying husband)
Mahābhārata: gṛhastha praise passages; spouse as half (ardhāṅgī) motif in later dharma literature
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: repeated use of concrete similes (ratha, vīṇā) to argue dharma in accessible terms
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Narrative
Even, instructional cadence with clear caesura at each simile
FAQs
The verse asserts a traditional dharmic ideal of marital unity: the wife’s well-being is presented as inseparable from her husband’s presence and role. It uses concrete analogies to argue for the centrality of the marital bond.
Sītā speaks to Kauśalyā while affirming her commitment to Rāma and the values that define her understanding of wifely duty, in the context of Rāma’s impending forest exile.
Sītā’s steadfastness (niṣṭhā) and loyalty (pativratā-bhāva) are emphasized through her uncompromising identification with her husband’s fate.
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