Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 11: Kaikeyī Demands two Boons
Text 2.11.22
वाङमात्रेण तदा राजा कैकेय्या स्ववशे कृतः।
प्रचस्कन्द विनाशाय पाशं मृग इवात्मनः॥
vāṅ-mātreṇa tadā rājā kaikeyyā sva-vaśe kṛtaḥ
pracaskanda vināśāya pāśaṁ mṛga ivātmanaḥ
vāk-mātreṇa = just by [hearing] her words; tadā = then; rājā = the king; kaikeyyā = Kaikeyī’s; sva-vaśe kṛtaḥ = who had been brought under control; pracaskanda = went; vināśāya = for the destruction; pāśam = into the noose of dharma; mṛgaḥ = a deer; iva = like; ātmanaḥ = of his self.
Then the king, who had been brought under Kaikeyī’s control just by [hearing] her words, went into the noose of dharma for the destruction of his self like a deer.
1 How Daśaratha withered away will be described from the next chapter.
The king came under Kaikeyī’s control as soon as he heard her words reminding him of the two boons he had bestowed her earlier on. Just as a deer comes under the net of a hunter who imitates the sound of a deer, Daśaratha went into the noose of dharma.
Pracaskanda indicates that he had gone into the noose of dharma, that is, he accepted that he would grant Kaikeyī those two boons. It can also indicate that he withered away just as a deer caught in a hunter’s net withers away.1