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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.86.25

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 86: Bharadvāja directs Bharata to Citrakūṭa. The Mandākinī and leaf hut identify Rāma’s home, Bharata introduces the Queens and is urged not to blame Kaikeyī

In the sequence: asked to identify them, Bharata introduces Kausalyā and Sumitrā with affection, then bitterly identifies Kaikeyī as the cause of the disaster

2.86.25

aiśvaryakāmāṃ kaikeyīm anāryām āryarūpiṇīm
mamaitāṃ mātaraṃ viddhi nṛśaṃsāṃ pāpaniścayām
yatomūlaṃ hi paśyāmi vyasanaṃ mahad ātmanaḥ

Know this Kaikeyī — greedy for power, ignoble though noble in appearance, cruel and of wicked resolve — to be my mother, in whom I see the very root of this great calamity of mine.

Words: aiśvaryakāmāṃ — greedy for power; kaikeyīm — Kaikeyī; anāryām — ignoble; āryarūpiṇīm — noble in appearance; mamaitāṃ — this my; mātaraṃ — mother; viddhi — know; nṛśaṃsāṃ — cruel; pāpaniścayām — of wicked resolve; yatomūlaṃ — of which as the root; hi — indeed; paśyāmi — I see; vyasanaṃ — calamity; mahad — great; ātmanaḥ — of myself, my own

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.