अद्य नूनं दशरथः सत्वमाविश्य भाषते।
न हि राजा प्रियं पुत्रं विवासयितुमिच्छति॥
adya nūnaṁ daśarathaḥ sattvam āviśya bhāṣate
na hi rājā priyaṁ putraṁ vivāsayitum icchati
adya nūnam = today; daśarathaḥ = Daśaratha; sattvam = a ghost 3; āviśya = possessed by; bhāṣate = speaks [of exiling Rāma]; na = never; hi = for; rājā = the king; priyam = his beloved; putram = son; vivāsayitum = to exile; icchati = [by himself] desires.
Possessed by a ghost, Daśaratha speaks [of exiling Rāma] today, for the king [by himself] never desires to exile his beloved son.1
1 These are the sentiments of the citizens. Daśaratha, as an eternal associate of Lord Rāma, cannot actually be possessed by a ghost and so on. But he plays his role under the influence of Lord Rāma’s yoga-māyā, all for the purpose of educating us—the conditioned souls.
1 “And so on” includes Mantharā. The glossator adds: “sattvaṁ guṇe piśācādau” iti viśvaḥ.
GLOSS. The “ghost” here refers to Kaikeyī and so on.1