Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 57: Sumantra Returns to Ayodhyā
Text 2.57.31
देव यस्या भयाद्रामं नानुपृच्छसि सारथिम्।
नेह तिष्ठति कैकेयी विस्रब्धं प्रतिभाष्यताम्॥
deva yasyā bhayād rāmaṁ nānupṛcchasi sārathim
neha tiṣṭhati kaikeyī visrabdhaṁ pratibhāṣyatām
deva = O lord; yasyāḥ bhayād = fearing whom; rāmam = about Rāma; na = don’t; anupṛcchasi = you ask; sārathim = the charioteer; na iha tiṣṭhati = is not here; kaikeyī = Kaikeyī; visrabdham = confidentially, without fear; pratibhāṣyatām = so reply to him.
O lord, Kaikeyī, fearing whom you don’t ask the charioteer about Rāma, is not here. So reply to him confidently, without fear!
Kausalyā now thinks of another reason for Daśaratha’s silence due to this calamity.