चतुर्णामात्मजानां हि प्रीतिरत्रैव मे परा । ज्येष्ठं धर्ममयं तस्मान्न रामं नेतुमर्हसि ॥ २२ ॥
caturṇāmātmajānāṁ hi prītiratraiva mē parā | jyēṣṭhaṁ dharmamayaṁ tasmānna rāmaṁ nētumarhasi || 22 ||
Translation
"Of my four sons, my deepest love is for him; he is the eldest and full of dharma. So you must not take Rāma.
Word by word
- caturṇām
- of four
- ātmajānāṁ
- sons
- hi
- indeed
- prītir
- (prītiḥ) love
- atra
- for him
- ēva
- alone
- mē
- my
- parā
- deepest
- jyēṣṭhaṁ
- the eldest
- dharma
- dharma
- mayaṁ
- full of
- tasmāt
- so
- na
- not
- rāmaṁ
- Rāma
- nētum
- to take
- arhasi
- you must
Meaning
He ends the first part of his plea with a direct refusal.