# Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 100 — Jābāli challenges the exile *He questions permanent family ties, offerings to the dead and belief in the unseen, urging Rāma to accept the available Kingdom* Portion: The dispute over Kingship and duty · Verses: 17 · Ref format: 2.100. ## Sequence - Jābāli intervenes, urging Rāma to reconsider the beliefs keeping him in exile (100.1–2) - he argues that each person is born and dies alone, and that family, property, and homes are temporary associations, like lodgings on a journey (100.3–6) - he urges Rāma to return to the prosperous city waiting for him (100.7–9) - Daśaratha has followed the fate of all mortals, he says, and Rāma's suffering cannot benefit him (100.10–11) - he questions whether offerings can feed the dead and mocks the idea by comparing it to feeding a traveler through someone else's meal (100.12–14) - he claims that religious prescriptions encourage gifts to those who teach them → he asks Rāma to trust what can be observed, set aside claims about the unseen, and accept Bharata's offer (100.15–17). ## Verses **2.100.1** āśvāsayantaṃ bharataṃ jābālir brāhmaṇottamaḥ uvāca rāmaṃ dharmajñaṃ dharmāpetam idaṃ vacaḥ As Rāma was consoling Bharata, Jābāli, the foremost of brahmins, spoke to that knower of dharma these words devoid of dharma: **2.100.2** sādhu rāghava mā bhūt te buddhir evaṃ nirarthakā prākṛtasya narasyeva ārya buddhes tapasvinaḥ Come now, Rāghava — let not such a futile notion possess you, a noble-minded ascetic, O noble one, as it would some common man. **2.100.3** kaḥ kasya puruṣo bandhuḥ kim āpyaṃ kasya kena cit yad eko jāyate jantur eka eva vinaśyati What man is kinsman to whom? What is there to be gained by anyone from anyone? For each creature is born alone, and alone it perishes. **2.100.4** tasmān mātā pitā ceti rāma sajjeta yo naraḥ unmatta iva sa jñeyo nāsti kācid dhi kasya cit Therefore, Rāma, the man who clings, saying 'this is my mother, this my father,' should be regarded as a madman; for no tie exists for anyone. **2.100.5** yathā grāmāntaraṃ gacchan naraḥ kaś cit kva cid vaset utsṛjya ca tam āvāsaṃ pratiṣṭhetāpare 'hani Just as a man travelling to another village might lodge somewhere, and then, quitting that lodging, set out again the next day — **2.100.6** evam eva manuṣyāṇāṃ pitā mātā gṛhaṃ vasu āvāsamātraṃ kākutstha sajjante nātra sajjanāḥ just so, O Kākutstha, for men their father, mother, home and wealth are but a lodging-place; the wise do not become attached to these. **2.100.7** pitryaṃ rājyaṃ samutsṛjya sa nārhati narottama āsthātuṃ kāpathaṃ duḥkhaṃ viṣamaṃ bahukaṇṭakam You ought not, O best of men, to give up the ancestral kingdom and set foot on an evil road, painful, rough, and beset with thorns. **2.100.8** samṛddhāyām ayodhyāyām ātmānam abhiṣecaya ekaveṇīdharā hi tvāṃ nagarī saṃpratīkṣate Consecrate yourself in prosperous Ayodhyā; for the city, wearing her single braid like a grieving wife, awaits you. **2.100.9** rājabhogān anubhavan mahārhān pārthivātmaja vihara tvam ayodhyāyāṃ yathā śakras triviṣṭape Enjoying the precious pleasures of a king, O son of a king, disport yourself in Ayodhyā as Śakra (Indra) does in heaven. **2.100.10** na te kaś cid daśarataḥs tvaṃ ca tasya na kaś cana anyo rājā tvam anyaś ca tasmāt kuru yad ucyate Daśaratha was nothing to you, and you were nothing to him; the king was one person and you are another — therefore do as you are told. **2.100.11** gataḥ sa nṛpatis tatra gantavyaṃ yatra tena vai pravṛttir eṣā martyānāṃ tvaṃ tu mithyā vihanyase That king has gone there, whither he was bound to go; this is the natural course of mortals — but you afflict yourself in vain. **2.100.12** arthadharmaparā ye ye tāṃs tāñ śocāmi netarān te hi duḥkham iha prāpya vināśaṃ pretya bhejire Those men, whoever they are, who set dharma above worldly gain — them alone I grieve for, not the others; for having reaped only sorrow here, they meet with annihilation after death. **2.100.13** aṣṭakā pitṛdaivatyam ity ayaṃ prasṛto janaḥ annasyopadravaṃ paśya mṛto hi kim aśiṣyati 'The Aṣṭakā rite is dedicated to the ancestors' — so these folk busy themselves. Behold the waste of food! For what will a dead man eat? **2.100.14** yadi bhuktam ihānyena deham anyasya gacchati dadyāt pravasataḥ śrāddhaṃ na tat pathy aśanaṃ bhavet If food eaten here by one could pass into the body of another, then one might offer a śrāddha for someone gone abroad, and it would serve him as food for the road (so he need carry none). **2.100.15** dānasaṃvananā hy ete granthā medhāvibhiḥ kṛtāḥ yajasva dehi dīkṣasva tapas tapyasva saṃtyaja These scriptures — 'sacrifice, give, be consecrated, practise austerity, renounce' — were composed by clever men merely to coax gifts out of people. **2.100.16** sa nāsti param ity eva kuru buddhiṃ mahāmate pratyakṣaṃ yat tad ātiṣṭha parokṣaṃ pṛṣṭhataḥ kuru Make up your mind, O wise one, to the very conviction that 'there is nothing beyond'; hold to what is evident, and put the unseen behind you. **2.100.17** satāṃ buddhiṃ puraskṛtya sarvalokanidarśinīm rājyaṃ tvaṃ pratigṛhṇīṣva bharatena prasāditaḥ Deferring to the counsel of the wise, which shows the way to all the world, accept the kingdom, entreated as you are by Bharata.