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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.98.50

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 98: Bharata’s appeal and Rāma’s answer. Bharata asks him to restore the Kingdom, Rāma teaches the inevitability of loss, separation and death

In the sequence: Bharata admires Rāma's steadiness but argues that a good son should correct a father's harmful decision → he rejects Kaikeyī's action and asks Rāma to rescue the family and people from its consequences

2.98.50

ko hi dharmārthayor hīnam īdṛśaṃ karma kilbiṣam
striyāḥ priyacikīrṣuḥ san kuryād dharmajña dharmavit

For what man who knows dharma, O knower of dharma, would—wishing to please a woman—do such a sinful deed, devoid of both dharma and profit?

Words: ko hi — who indeed; dharmārthayor hīnam — devoid of dharma and profit; īdṛśaṃ karma kilbiṣam — such a sinful deed; striyāḥ — of a woman; priyacikīrṣuḥ san — being desirous of pleasing; kuryād — would do; dharmajña — O knower of dharma; dharmavit — a knower of dharma

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.