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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.101.7
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
2.101.7
kaś cetayānaḥ puruṣaḥ kāryākāryavicakṣaṇaḥ
bahu maṃsyati māṃ loke durvṛttaṃ lokadūṣaṇam
what sensible man, skilled in telling right action from wrong, would think highly of me in the world — of me, ill-conducted, a defiler of the world?
Words: kaś — what, who; cetayānaḥ — thinking, sensible; puruṣaḥ — man; kāryākāryavicakṣaṇaḥ — discerning right and wrong action; bahu maṃsyati — would esteem highly; māṃ — me; loke — in the world; durvṛttaṃ — ill-conducted; lokadūṣaṇam — a defiler of the world
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.