Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 40: Rāma Departs from Ayodhyā
Text 2.40.41
स बद्ध इव पाशेन किशोरो मातरं यथा।
धर्मपाशेन सङ्क्षिप्तः प्रकाशं नाभ्युदैक्षत॥
sa baddha iva pāśena kiśoro mātaraṁ yathā
dharma-pāśena saṅkṣiptaḥ prakāśaṁ nābhyudaikṣata
saḥ = He; baddhaḥ = bound; iva = like; pāśena = by a cord; kiśoraḥ = a young horse; mātaram = to its mother; yathā = as if; dharma-pāśena = by the noose of dharma; saṅkṣiptaḥ = bound; prakāśam = directly; na = not; abhyudaikṣata = did look [at them].
Like a young horse bound by a cord to its mother, He did not directly look [at them], as if bound by the noose of dharma.1
1 Iva (“as if”) is significant here for while Daśaratha has been described as having been bound by the noose of dharma, Rāma is only described as being as if bound by the noose of dharma.
Rāmacandra glanced [at His mother and father] from the corner of His eyes, not directly.
GLOSS. Iva and kiśoraḥ can also indicate that Rāma was as if bound by the noose of dharma just as a young boy is bound to his mother.