Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 7: Mantharā Instructs Kaikeyī to Stop the Coronation
Text 2.7.15
अनिष्टे सुभगाकारे सौभाग्येन विकत्थसे।
चलं हि तव सौभाग्यं नद्याः स्रोत इवोष्णगे॥
aniṣṭe subhagākāre saubhāgyena vikatthase
calaṁ hi tava saubhāgyaṁ nadyāḥ srota ivoṣṇage
aniṣṭe = O one who is actually not desired by the king; subhaga-ākāre = O one who is apparently very fortunate; saubhāgyena = about your good fortune; vikatthase = you have blabbered; calam = is flickering; hi = because; tava = your; saubhāgyam = good fortune; nadyāḥ = of a river; srotaḥ = the flow; iva = like; uṣṇage = in summer.
O one who is actually not desired by the king, O one who is apparently very fortunate, you have blabbered about your good fortune because your good fortune is flickering like the flow of a river in summer.
The first two words can also be read as aniṣṭe ’subhagākāre, [which would then imply that Kaikeyī is actually the very form of misfortune].
“You have blabbered about your good fortune” means “You have glorified yourself, ‘I am the one who is fortunate [here].’” It should be understood that this is a reference to a former statement of Kaikeyī when she had glorified herself [as being very fortunate].
Anticipating that Kaikeyī might respond, “Now how is my good fortune lost?” Mantharā speaks the second half of the verse. [In Mantharā’s opinion,] Kaikeyī’s good fortune is like the flow of a river in summer, that is, it is diminished.