सरितां तु पतिःस्वल्पां मर्यादां सत्यमन्वितः।
सत्यानुरोधात्समये वेलां स्वां नातिवर्तते॥
saritāṁ tu patiḥ svalpāṁ maryādāṁ satyam anvitaḥ
satyānurodhāt samaye velāṁ svāṁ nātivartate
saritām tu = of the rivers; patiḥ = the master; svalpām = even slightly; maryādām = regarding his boundaries; satyam = a promise; anvitaḥ = had given; satya-anurodhāt = and because of that promise; samaye = over time; velām = boundaries; svām = his; na = not; ativartate = does transgress.
The master of the rivers had given a promise regarding his boundaries and because of that promise, he does not transgress his boundaries even slightly over time.
1 Note that Kaikeyī has irrationally recycled her arguments from Chapter 12 by giving these three examples without actually refuting Daśaratha’s counter-argument that he had already made a promise in the assembly that he would coronate Rāma and that if he were to fulfill his promise to Kaikeyī, it would ensure that his promise to the citizens that Rāma would be coronated would be broken. And the importance of upholding one’s promise holds in both cases.
The master of the rivers is Samudra, [the presiding deity of the ocean].1