Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 21: Rāma Consoles Kausalyā and Lakṣmaṇa
Text 2.21.3
विपरीतश्च वृद्धश्च विषयैश्च प्रधर्षितः।
नृपः किमिव न ब्रूयच्चोद्यमानः समन्मथः॥
viparītaś ca vṛddhaś ca viṣayaiś ca pradharṣitaḥ
nṛpaḥ kim iva na brūyāc codyamānaḥ samanmathaḥ
viparītaḥ ca = is perverse; vṛddhaḥ ca = senile; viṣayaiḥ = by sense objects; ca = and; pradharṣitaḥ = assaulted; nṛpaḥ = the king; kim iva = what; na = not; brūyāt = will speak; codyamānaḥ = impelled by Kaikeyī; samanmathaḥ = that lusty man.
The king is perverse, senile and assaulted by sense objects. Impelled by Kaikeyī, what will that lusty man not speak?
1]. In other words, he was not acting as a wise, self-disciplined old man; he was acting as a passionate, self-uncontrolled young man.
Lakṣmaṇa said that King Daśaratha was perverse, that is, functioning in opposition to the duties of his age.1 And why was he so? Because he was senile and assaulted by sense objects. But Daśaratha was very pure [by himself]. How could sense objects assault him? Samanmathaḥ. He was lusty and hence he was being pushed around by Kaikeyī.
But may be Rāma was being banished due to some fault on His part? Anticipating that this question might arise, Śrī Lakṣmaṇa states as follows.