← 2.61.21 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 61: Ayodhyā without a King · 2.61.23 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.61.22

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 61: Ayodhyā without a King. Ministers warn that food production, worship, trade and protection will fail without a ruler and ask Vasiṣṭha to arrange succession

In the sequence: without authority to settle disputes, they say, people will prey on one another

2.61.22

yehi saṃbhinnamaryādā nāstikāś chinnasaṃśayāḥ
te 'pi bhāvāya kalpante rājadaṇḍanipīḍitāḥ

Even those who break through all bounds, unbelievers who have cast off every scruple — even they are made to conduce to order when curbed by the king's rod.

Words: yehi — for those who; saṃbhinnamaryādā — who break through all bounds; nāstikāś — unbelievers; chinnasaṃśayāḥ — who have cast off all scruple; te 'pi — even they; bhāvāya — to (right) order, well-being; kalpante — become fit, conduce; rājadaṇḍanipīḍitāḥ — curbed by the king's rod

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.