Be not distressed at heart by the thought of what your mother has done.
Son, it is no fault of Kaikeyi's; it was Sarasvati who stole away her senses.
Chaupai
If you say thus, ‘No one will excuse me’; I reply. Scripture and the practice of the world are both accepted as authorities by the wise; and your glory, my son, will be sung unsullied, while the Veda and custom will both be honoured, for everyone admits that this is according both to custom and the Veda: that he takes the throne to whom his father gives it. The truthful king summoned you to confer upon you the honour of sovereignty and its higher duties. Rama's banishment is a monstrous wrong, which the whole world is grieved to hear of: but the queen was demented by the power of Fate, and in the end she has repented of the evil she has done. You are not the least in fault; whoever says you are is a vile and ignorant wretch. Had you reigned, it would have been no sin, and Rama would have been pleased to hear of it.
Son, it is no fault of Kaikeyi's; it was Sarasvati who stole away her senses.
Chaupai
If you say thus, ‘No one will excuse me’; I reply. Scripture and the practice of the world are both accepted as authorities by the wise; and your glory, my son, will be sung unsullied, while the Veda and custom will both be honoured, for everyone admits that this is according both to custom and the Veda: that he takes the throne to whom his father gives it. The truthful king summoned you to confer upon you the honour of sovereignty and its higher duties. Rama's banishment is a monstrous wrong, which the whole world is grieved to hear of: but the queen was demented by the power of Fate, and in the end she has repented of the evil she has done. You are not the least in fault; whoever says you are is a vile and ignorant wretch. Had you reigned, it would have been no sin, and Rama would have been pleased to hear of it.