← 2.97.5 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 97: Bharata offers Rāma the Kingdom · 2.97.7 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.97.6

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 97: Bharata offers Rāma the Kingdom. Rāma absolves him of blame but insists that both brothers honour their father’s division between Kingdom and forest

In the sequence: Bharata recounts their father's grief and his mother's role in the disaster

2.97.6

striyā niyuktaḥ kaikeyyā mama mātrā paraṃtapa
cakāra sumahat pāpam idam ātmayaśoharam

Impelled by a woman, my mother Kaikeyī, O scorcher of foes, he committed this very great sin that robbed him of his own fame.

Words: striyā — by a woman; niyuktaḥ — impelled, urged; kaikeyyā — by Kaikeyī; mama — my; mātrā — by the mother; paraṃtapa — O scorcher of foes; cakāra — committed, did; sumahat — very great; pāpam — sin; idam — this; ātmayaśoharam — robbing his own fame

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.