Ayodhya Kanda · Sarga 35 of 119 · 37 verses
Sumantra Rebukes Kaikeyi
Sumantra shakes his head, sighs, wrings his hands and grinds his teeth; his eyes red with anger, his colour gone, he pierces Kaikeyi’s heart with sharp arrows of words: “You have abandoned your husband, King Dasharatha, lord of the whole world, moving and unmoving; there is nothing too wicked for you. I think you a killer of your husband and in the end a destroyer of your family, since you torment one who is unconquerable like Indra, unshakable like a mountain, unruffled like the ocean. Do not despise your husband, the giver of boons; a husband’s wish matters more to a woman than ten million sons. Kingdoms pass to the eldest when a king dies; you want to destroy that custom in the Ikshvaku line. Let your son Bharata be king and rule the earth; we will go where Rama goes. No brahmana will stay in your realm. What joy will you have in a kingdom abandoned by your kin, the brahmanas and the good? It is a wonder the earth does not split open beneath you, or that the blazing curses of the great sages do not strike you. Who cuts down a mango tree with an axe and tends a neem? Water it with milk, it will never be sweet.
“I think your nature is like your mother’s; honey does not drip from a neem tree. We know the story of your mother’s wicked obstinacy. A boon-giver once granted your father the power to understand the speech of all creatures. Lying in bed, he heard a jrimbha insect speak and laughed. Your mother, furious, wanting to put the noose of death on him, demanded to know why he laughed. He said that if he told her, he would die at once. She said, ‘Tell me, live or die; you shall not laugh at me.’ The king asked the boon-giver, who said: ‘Let her die or be ruined; do not tell her.’ Gladdened, the king cast your mother out and lived on like Kubera. In the same way you, deluded, seeing only evil, are forcing the king onto the path of the wicked. The popular saying is true: men take after their fathers, women after their mothers. Do not be like this. Accept what the king says; serve your husband’s wish; be the refuge of this people. Do not, urged by wicked people, make your husband, radiant as the king of the gods, practise false dharma. The sinless king will not falsify his promise to you. Let Rama, the eldest, generous, capable, protector of the world, be consecrated. If Rama goes to the forest leaving his father, great blame will spread about you in the world. When Rama is crown prince, the king will go to the forest himself, as his forefathers did.” With soothing and with sharp words, palms joined, Sumantra tries to shake Kaikeyi; but the queen is neither shaken nor troubled, and the colour of her face does not change.
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ततो निधूय सहसा शिरो निःश्वस्य चासकृत् । पाणिं पाणौ विनिष्पिष्य दन्तान् कटकटाय्य च ॥ १ ॥
लोचने कोपसंरक्ते वर्णं पूर्वोचितं जहत् । कोपाभिभूतः सहसा संतापमशुभं गतः ॥ २ ॥
Then, suddenly shaking his head, sighing again and again, wringing hand in hand, grinding his teeth, his eyes red with anger, his former colour gone, overcome with rage, the charioteer fell suddenly into a terrible distress.
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Sumantra Rebukes Kaikeyi 1 min read.
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मनः समीक्षमाणश्च सूतो दशरथस्य च । कम्पयन्निव कैकेय्या हृदयं वाक्शरैः शितैः ॥ ३ ॥
वाक्यवज्रैरनुपमैर्निर्भिन्दन्निव चाशुभैः । कैकेय्याः सर्वमर्माणि सुमन्त्रः प्रत्यभाषत ॥ ४ ॥
Looking into Dasharatha’s mind, as if shaking Kaikeyi’s heart with sharp arrows of words, as if splitting all her vitals with matchless, inauspicious thunderbolts of speech, Sumantra answered Kaikeyi:
यस्यास्तव पतिस्त्यक्तो राजा दशरथः स्वयम् । भर्ता सर्वस्य जगतः स्थावरस्य चरस्य च ॥ ५ ॥
“You, by whom your husband King Dasharatha himself has been abandoned, the lord of the whole world, moving and unmoving,
नह्यकार्यतमं किंचित्तव देवीह विद्यते । पतिघ्नीं त्वामहं मन्ये कुलघ्नीमपि चान्ततः ॥ ६ ॥
“there is nothing here too wrong for you to do, queen. I think you a killer of your husband, and in the end a destroyer of your family,
यन्महेन्द्रमिवाजय्यं दुष्प्रकम्प्यमिवाचलम् । महोदधिमिवाक्षोभ्यं संतापयसि कर्मभिः ॥ ७ ॥
“since by your deeds you torment one unconquerable like great Indra, unshakable like a mountain, unruffled like the great ocean.
मावमंस्था दशरथं भर्तारं वरदं पतिम् । भर्तुरिच्छा हि नारीणां पुत्रकोट्या विशिष्यते ॥ ८ ॥
“Do not despise Dasharatha, your husband, giver of boons, your lord. For a woman, her husband’s wish counts more than ten million sons.
यथावयो हि राज्यानि प्राप्नुवन्ति नृपक्षये । इक्ष्वाकुकुलनाथेऽस्मिंस्तं लोपयितुमिच्छसि ॥ ९ ॥
“Kingdoms pass by seniority when a king dies; in this lord of the Ikshvaku line you wish to destroy that.
राजा भवतु ते पुत्रो भरतः शास्तु मेदिनीम् । वयं तत्र गमिष्यामो यत्र रामो गमिष्यति ॥ १० ॥
“Let your son Bharata be king; let him rule the earth. We will go where Rama will go.
न च ते विषये कश्चिद् ब्राह्मणो वस्तुमर्हति । तादृशं त्वममर्यादमद्य कर्म करिष्यसि ॥ ११ ॥
“No brahmana will be willing to live in your realm, such a lawless deed you are going to do today.
नूनं सर्वे गमिष्यामो मार्गं रामनिषेवितम् । त्यक्ता या बान्धवैः सर्वैर्ब्राह्मणैः साधुभिः सदा ॥ १२ ॥
“Surely we will all go on the road Rama has taken; you who are abandoned by all your kin, by brahmanas and by the good, always.
का प्रीती राज्यलाभेन तव देवि भविष्यति । तादृशं त्वममर्यादं कर्म कर्तुं चिकीर्षसि ॥ १३ ॥
“What joy will you have in gaining the kingdom, queen, when you wish to do such a lawless deed?
आश्चर्यमिव पश्यामि यस्यास्ते वृत्तमीदृशम् । आचरन्त्या न विवृता सद्यो भवति मेदिनी ॥ १४ ॥
“I see it as a wonder that, while you behave like this, the earth does not at once split open.
महाब्रह्मर्षिसृष्टा वा ज्वलन्तो भीमदर्शनाः । धिग्वाग्दण्डा न हिंसन्ति रामप्रव्राजने स्थिताम् ॥ १५ ॥
“Or that the blazing, terrible rods of rebuke, the ‘shame on you!’ created by great brahmarshis, do not strike you, who stand set on Rama’s exile.
आम्रं छित्त्वा कुठारेण निम्बं परिचरेत् तु कः । यश्चैनं पयसा सिञ्चेन्नैवास्य मधुरो भवेत् ॥ १६ ॥
“Who would cut down a mango with an axe and then tend a neem tree? Even if one waters it with milk, it will not become sweet.
आभिजात्यं हि ते मन्ये यथा मातुस्तथैव च । न हि निम्बात् स्रवेत् क्षौद्रं लोके निगदितं वचः ॥ १७ ॥
“I think your birth is like your mother’s. ‘Honey does not drip from a neem’: that is a saying in the world.
तव मातुरसद्ग्राहं विद्म पूर्वं यथा श्रुतम् । पितुस्ते वरदः कश्चिद् ददौ वरमनुत्तमम् ॥ १८ ॥
“We know of your mother’s wicked obstinacy, as it was heard long ago. A certain boon-giver gave your father an excellent boon,
सर्वभूतरुतं तस्मात् संजज्ञे वसुधाधिपः । तेन तिर्यग्गतानां च भूतानां विदितं वचः ॥ १९ ॥
“and by it the lord of the earth came to know the speech of all creatures; the words of beings that move horizontally became known to him.
ततो जृम्भस्य शयने विरुताद् भूरिवर्चसः । पितुस्ते विदितो भावः स तत्र बहुधाहसत् ॥ २० ॥
“Then, from the cry of a very radiant jrimbha insect on his bed, your father understood its meaning, and he laughed a great deal there.
तत्र ते जननी क्रुद्धा मृत्युपाशमभीप्सती । हासं ते नृपते सौम्य जिज्ञासामीति चाब्रवीत् ॥ २१ ॥
“Then your mother, angry, wanting the noose of death for him, said: ‘I want to know the reason for your laughter, gentle king.’
नृपश्चोवाच तां देवीं हासं शंसामि ते यदि । ततो मे मरणं सद्यो भविष्यति न संशयः ॥ २२ ॥
“The king said to the queen: ‘If I tell you the reason for my laughter, then my death will follow at once, without doubt.’
माता ते पितरं देवि पुनः केकयमब्रवीत् । शंस मे जीव वा मा वा न मां त्वं प्रहसिष्यसि ॥ २३ ॥
“Your mother, queen, said again to your father, the Kekaya king: ‘Tell me, whether you live or not; you shall not laugh at me.’
प्रियया च तथोक्तः स केकयः पृथिवीपतिः । तस्मै तं वरदायार्थं कथयामास तत्त्वतः ॥ २४ ॥
“Spoken to so by his beloved, the Kekaya lord of the earth told the whole matter truly to that boon-giver.
ततः स वरदः साधू राजानं प्रत्यभाषत । म्रियतां ध्वंसतां वेयं मा शंसीस्त्वं महीपते ॥ २५ ॥
“Then that good boon-giver replied to the king: ‘Let her die or be ruined; do not tell her, lord of the earth.’
स तच्छ्रुत्वा वचस्तस्य प्रसन्नमनसो नृपः । मातरं ते निरस्याशु विजहार कुबेरवत् ॥ २६ ॥
“Hearing his words, the king, his mind at ease, quickly cast out your mother and enjoyed himself like Kubera.
तथा त्वमपि राजानं दुर्जनाचरिते पथि । असद्ग्राहमिमं मोहात् कुरुषे पापदर्शिनी ॥ २७ ॥
“So you too, out of delusion, seeing only evil, are pressing this wicked obstinacy on the king, on the path walked by the wicked.
सत्यश्चात्र प्रवादोऽयं लौकिकः प्रतिभाति मा । पितॄन् समनुजायन्ते नरा मातरमङ्गनाः ॥ २८ ॥
“And this popular saying seems true to me: men are born after their fathers, women after their mothers.
नैवं भव गृहाणेदं यदाह वसुधाधिपः । भर्तुरिच्छामुपास्वेह जनस्यास्य गतिर्भव ॥ २९ ॥
“Do not be like that. Accept what the lord of the earth says. Serve your husband’s wish here; be the refuge of this people.
मा त्वं प्रोत्साहिता पापैर्देवराजसमप्रभम् । भर्तारं लोकभर्तारमसद्धर्ममुपादध ॥ ३० ॥
“Urged on by wicked people, do not make your husband, radiant as the king of the gods, sustainer of the world, take up false dharma.
नहि मिथ्या प्रतिज्ञातं करिष्यति तवानघः । श्रीमान् दशरथो राजा देवि राजीवलोचनः ॥ ३१ ॥
“For the glorious, sinless, lotus-eyed King Dasharatha will not make false what he promised you, queen.
ज्येष्ठो वदान्यः कर्मण्यः स्वधर्मस्यापि रक्षिता । रक्षिता जीवलोकस्य बली रामोऽभिषिच्यताम् ॥ ३२ ॥
“Let the eldest, generous, capable, guardian of his own dharma and of the world of the living, mighty Rama be consecrated.
परिवादो हि ते देवि महाँल्लोके चरिष्यति । यदि रामो वनं याति विहाय पितरं नृपम् ॥ ३३ ॥
“For great blame will spread about you in the world, queen, if Rama goes to the forest leaving his father the king.
स्वराज्यं राघवः पातु भव त्वं विगतज्वरा । नहि ते राघवादन्यः क्षमः पुरवरे वसन् ॥ ३४ ॥
“Let Raghava protect his own kingdom, and you be free of fever. For no one but Raghava is fit to live in this best of cities.
रामे हि यौवराज्यस्थे राजा दशरथो वनम् । प्रवेक्ष्यति महेष्वासः पूर्ववृत्तमनुस्मरन् ॥ ३५ ॥
“When Rama is established as crown prince, King Dasharatha, the great archer, remembering what was done of old, will enter the forest.”
इति सान्त्वैश्च तीक्ष्णैश्च कैकेयीं राजसंसदि । भूयः संक्षोभयामास सुमन्त्रस्तु कृताञ्जलिः ॥ ३६ ॥
So with soothing words and sharp ones, Sumantra, with joined palms, again tried to shake Kaikeyi in the king’s assembly.
नैव सा क्षुभ्यते देवी न च स्म परिदूयते । न चास्या मुखवर्णस्य लक्ष्यते विक्रिया तदा ॥ ३७ ॥
But the queen was not shaken, nor was she pained, and no change was seen then in the colour of her face.