Ram Holds No Greed for the Throne
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 31
Doha 31 · Movement 2 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Dasharatha knows Ram has no hunger for sovereignty. The throne cannot enlarge one whose heart is already free from possession.
He also knows Ram's profound love for Bharata. The brothers' bond makes the imagined contest between them impossible except within the fear Manthara created.
The king explains that he followed royal custom by weighing elder and younger, nothing more. Coronation was order, not preference; duty, not exclusion. Yet custom has been interpreted as conspiracy, and Dasharatha now watches an innocent distinction used to manufacture division where love had never admitted it.
The crown could never divide Ram from Bharata, for neither greed nor rivalry has any seat between them.
Read the passage from the Manas
लोभु न रामहि राजु कर बहुत भरत पर प्रीति। मैं बड़ छोट बिचारि जियँ करत रहेउँ नृपनीति।।31।।
Rama has no greed for the throne, and he holds great love for Bharat. Weighing who is elder and who is younger in my heart, I have simply been following the custom of kings.