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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.101.6

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 101: Rāma rejects Jābāli’s advice. A ruler’s actions guide his subjects, truth sustains trust and no worldly gain justifies breaking his father’s promise

In the sequence: breaking his pledge would make him unworthy of others' trust

2.101.6

adharmaṃ dharmaveṣeṇa yadīmaṃ lokasaṃkaram
abhipatsye śubhaṃ hitvā kriyāvidhivivarjitam

If, forsaking the good, I were to embrace this unrighteousness in the guise of dharma — this confounding of the world, void of prescribed rites and rules —

Words: adharmaṃ — unrighteousness; dharmaveṣeṇa — in the guise of dharma; yadīmaṃ — if this; lokasaṃkaram — confounding of the world; abhipatsye — I should resort to, embrace; śubhaṃ hitvā — abandoning the good; kriyāvidhivivarjitam — void of rites and rules

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.