← 2.101.7 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 101: Rāma rejects Jābāli’s advice · 2.101.9 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.101.8

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

2.101.8

kasya yāsyāmy ahaṃ vṛttaṃ kena vā svargam āpnuyām
anayā vartamāno 'haṃ vṛttyā hīnapratijñayā

Whose good conduct should I then be following, and by what means could I win heaven, if I lived by this way of conduct that had abandoned its pledge?

Words: kasya — whose; yāsyāmy ahaṃ — shall I attain, follow; vṛttaṃ — conduct; kena vā — or by what means; svargam āpnuyām — would I attain heaven; anayā — by this; vartamāno 'haṃ — I, behaving; vṛttyā — by (this) conduct; hīnapratijñayā — which has abandoned its pledge

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki. 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.