Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 75: Bharata’s Conversation with Kausalyā-devī
Text 2.75.37
लाक्षया मधुमांसेन लोहेन च विषेण च।
सदैव विभृयाद्भृत्यान्यस्यार्योऽनुमते गतः॥
lākṣayā madhu-māṁsena lohena ca viṣeṇa ca
sadaiva bibhṛyād bhṛtyān yasyāryo ’numate gataḥ
lākṣayā = with lac; madhu-māṁsena = wine, meat; lohena ca = iron; viṣeṇa = poison; ca = and; sadā eva = always; bibhṛyāt = may maintain; bhṛtyān = his dependants; yasya = whose; āryaḥ = noble Rāma; anumate = [he] with consent; gataḥ = has departed [to the forest].
May [he] with whose consent noble Rāma has departed [to the forest] always maintain his dependants with lac, wine, meat, iron and poison.1
[There is a general rule in Manu-smṛti:]
vṛddhau ca mātā-pitarau sādhvī bhāryā sutaḥ śiśuḥ
apy akārya-śataṁ kṛtvā bhartavyā manur abravīt
“Manu has declared that a man should maintain his elderly parents, chaste wife and infant son even by engaging in a hundred improper activities.”1
However, the current verse in the Rāmāyaṇa points out exceptions [to this general rule].2