Kausalya Asks Only That Ram Not Forget Her
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 56
Doha 56 · Movement 2 of 2
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Kausalya refuses both insistence and a false display of love. She will not hold Ram through emotion when dharma calls him onward.
Instead she asks him to honour the bond of mother and son. Her blessing gives him freely, but one plea remains: do not forget me.
The request is humble because memory is all separation leaves within her reach. She cannot walk the fourteen years for him, shorten the road, or command his return. She entrusts her continuing presence to the inward space of remembrance, asking love to survive where sight cannot.
Releasing every other claim, Kausalya asks for one dwelling within Ram's unforgetting heart.
Read the passage from the Manas
यह बिचारि नहिं करउँ हठ झूठ सनेहु बढ़ाइ। मानि मातु कर नात बलि सुरति बिसरि जनि जाइ।।56।।
Thinking on all this, I do not insist, nor do I make a false show of love. Honor the bond of a mother, dear son. I offer myself for your sake. Only this: do not forget me.