सदाप्रतिमवृत्ताया लोकधारणकाम्यया।
श्रीमत्या गुणनित्यायाः स्वभावपरिवेषया॥
यस्याः पुत्रसहस्राणि सापि शोचति कामधुक्।
किं पुनर्या विना रामं कौसल्या वर्तयिष्यति॥॥
sadāpratima-vṛttāyā loka-dhāraṇa-kāmyayā
śrīmatyā guṇa-nityāyāḥ svabhāva-pariveṣayā
yasyāḥ putra-sahasrāṇi sāpi śocati kāmadhuk
kiṁ punar yā vinā rāmaṁ kausalyā vartayiṣyati
sadā-apratima-vṛttāyāḥ = activities were always unparalleled; loka-dhāraṇa-kāmyayā = out of her desire to maintain the worlds; śrīmatyāḥ = surabhi was prosperous; guṇa-nityāyāḥ = and always filled with auspicious qualities; svabhāva-pariveṣayā = under natural circumstances; yasyāḥ = whose; putra-sahasrāṇi = she had thousands of cows; sā = that; api = even; śocati = lamented [for her two sons]; kāmadhuk = wish-fulfilling cow; kim punaḥ = so what to speak of; yā = who; vinā = without; rāmam = Rāma; kausalyā = Kausalyā; vartayiṣyati = has to live.
Surabhi was prosperous and always filled with auspicious qualities. Out of her desire to maintain the worlds, she had thousands of cows under natural circumstances. Even that wish-fulfilling cow, whose activities were always unparalleled, lamented [for her two sons], so what to speak of Kausalyā who has to live without Rāma?
1 The fact that surabhi was a kāmadhenu cow indicates that she could give birth to as many bulls and cows as she wanted. So, she could have easily given birth to two or more bulls and found satisfaction in their satisfaction and conveniently forgotten about the two suffering bulls born from her. Nevertheless, the suffering of those two bulls gave her much distress. So what to speak of Kausalyā-devī, who had only one son, and who had been rendered a widow by the force of Kaikeyī’s demands? Bharata is trying to make Kaikeyī understand and realize her mistake in having tormented her co-wife Kausalyā, and has therefore compared Queen Kausalyā’s distress with the surabhi’s distress.
2 She reciprocated equally with all. In other words, Queen Kausalyā was not partial to anyone.
This is Bharata’s statement. Surabhi had thousands of cows under natural circumstances, that is, by sexual reproduction, and this was due to her desire to maintain the worlds with thousands of cows, that is, to have many cows in the world. She was a wish-fulfilling cow, that is, she was capable of creating as many [bulls and cows] as she wanted, and yet she lamented.1 So what to speak of Kausalyā-devī who had only one son, Rāma, and she had to live without Him?
GLOSS. [The glossator reads samāpratima-vṛttāyāḥ instead of sadāpratima-vṛttāyāḥ and guṇa-mukhyāyāḥ instead of guṇa-nityāyāḥ indicating the following.] Queen Kausalyā’s character and activities were unique in terms of her being equal and not unequal to all creatures in accordance with their service [to her].2 She was primarily filled with qualities needed for all—being charitable and so on.