← 2.8.1 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 8: Mantharā turns Kaikeyī’s mind · 2.8.3 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.8.2

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 8: Mantharā turns Kaikeyī’s mind. Kaikeyī defends Rāma, Mantharā argues that his descendants will exclude Bharata’s line and urges Rāma’s exile

In the sequence: Mantharā throws aside the gift and insists that Kaikeyī is celebrating her own humiliation → she predicts that Kaikeyī will become Kausalyā's servant and Bharata's household will lose its standing

2.8.2

harṣaṃ kim idam asthāne kṛtavaty asi bāliśe
śokasāgaramadhyastham ātmānaṃ nāvabudhyase

“Why have you shown this joy at so wrong a moment, you fool? You do not perceive that you yourself stand in the very midst of an ocean of grief.

Words: harṣaṃ — joy, delight; kim idam — why this; asthāne — out of place, at the wrong time; kṛtavaty asi — you have shown; bāliśe — O foolish one; śokasāgaramadhyastham — standing in the midst of an ocean of grief; ātmānaṃ — yourself; nāvabudhyase — you do not perceive

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.