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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.72.21

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 72: Bharata stops Mantharā’s punishment. Śatrughna drags her across the floor, Bharata orders her release to avoid Rāma’s condemnation

In the sequence: Bharata tells him to release Mantharā, saying that Rāma would condemn the killing and refuse to speak to either brother → Śatrughna lets her go, and she takes refuge with Kaikeyī.

2.72.21

hanyām aham imāṃ pāpāṃ kaikeyīṃ duṣṭacāriṇīm
yadi māṃ dhārmiko rāmo nāsūyen mātṛghātakam

I would kill this wicked, evil-doing Kaikeyī, were it not that the righteous Rāma would reproach me as a matricide.

Words: hanyām — I would kill; aham — I; imāṃ — this; pāpāṃ — wicked; kaikeyīṃ — Kaikeyī; duṣṭacāriṇīm — evil-doing; yadi — if; māṃ — me; dhārmiko — the righteous; rāmo — Rāma; nāsūyen — would not reproach; mātṛghātakam — as a matricide

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.