Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 24: Rāma Instructs Kausalyā
Text 2.24.4

क एतच्छ्रद्दधेच्छ्रुत्वा कस्य वा न भवेद्भयम्।
गुणवान्दयितो राज्ञा राघवो यद्विवास्यते॥

ka etac chraddadhec chrutvā kasya vā na bhaved bhayam
guṇavān dayito rājñā rāghavo yad vivāsyate

kaḥ = who; etat = that; śraddadhet = will believe; śrutvā = upon coming to know about it; kasya = who; = and; na = not; bhavet bhayam = will become frightened; guṇavān = of auspicious attributes; dayitaḥ = dear; rājñā = by the king; rāghavaḥ yat vivāsyate = Rāghava is going to be banished.

Who will believe that dear Rāghava of auspicious attributes is going to be banished by the king? And upon coming to know about it, who will not become frightened?

Kausalyā asks “Who will believe...?” because it is impossible for one to banish his son [so qualified] with auspicious attributes. And even if one comes to [somehow] believe it, who will not become frightened thinking that this might happen to them too?1


 

1 “If King Daśaratha could banish his own son, and that too, Rāmacandra filled with all auspicious attributes, how difficult would it be for him to banish me?” Kausalyā is worried that this is how Daśaratha’s subjects will think. It is clear from Śrī Rāmāyaṇa that there were extremely selfless kings and queens in the past who took care of the citizens as if they were their own children.