batch.motif.hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg-l12524-l12698
---
record_id: batch.motif.hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg-l12524-l12698
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
passage_locator:
label: Canto VI. The City Decorated. / Canto IX. The Plot. / Canto XV. The Preparations.
/ Canto XVIII. The Sentence.; lines 12524-12698
start: '12524'
end: '12698'
translation: The Ramayan of Valmiki
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'Rama finds his father, the king, grief-stricken beside Queen Kaikeyi.
Rama reverently greets them and asks Kaikeyi why the king cannot speak. Kaikeyi
says the king is bound by a past promise and demands that Rama swear to fulfill
it. Rama declares he would endure death or danger at his father''s command. Kaikeyi
then claims two boons: Bharata is to be installed as king, and Rama is to go to
Dandak forest in bark garments and matted hair for fourteen years. The king grieves
while Rama remains outwardly calm.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The king sits with Kaikeyi in visible distress and cannot speak beyond crying
Rama's name.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Rama clasps his father's feet and touches Kaikeyi's feet in reverence.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Rama is alarmed by the king's altered condition and asks Kaikeyi to explain
the cause.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Rama states that a father should be treated as a deity on earth.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: Kaikeyi says the king once granted her a boon and must keep his promise.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Rama says he would enter fire, drink poison, or sink in the ocean if commanded
by his father and king.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: Kaikeyi states that the king granted her two boons after she saved his life
in a battle involving gods and titans.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: Kaikeyi demands that Bharata be placed on the throne and Rama go to Dandak
forest.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: Kaikeyi specifies a fourteen-year exile in which Rama is to wear bark clothing
and matted hair.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: Kaikeyi says consecrating drops and royal pomp prepared for Rama should be
used for Bharata.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:11
text: The king breaks into anguish at Rama's fate, while Rama does not display grief
in response to Kaikeyi's words.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Rama
description: Prince, son of the king, addressed as high-souled, noble, truthful,
and obedient to his father.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: The king / Rama's father
description: The monarch and Rama's father, overcome with grief and bound by a promise
to Kaikeyi.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Queen Kaikeyi
description: Queen who speaks to Rama, invokes the king's past promise, and claims
boons for Bharata's enthronement and Rama's exile.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Bharata
description: Named by Kaikeyi as the one to be set on the throne in Rama's place.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Shatrughna
description: Named by Rama among those whose welfare might concern the king.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Gods and Titans
description: Groups mentioned by Kaikeyi as combatants in an earlier battle when
she saved the king's life.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: grieving royal father
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The monarch is described as unable to speak, tearful, and bowed down by grief
at Rama's altered fate.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- id: role:2
label: obedient son
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Rama asks what offense he has committed and declares he will obey his father
and king even at the cost of his life.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: role:3
label: boon-claiming queen
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Kaikeyi invokes a past promise and claims two boons from the king through
Rama.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: participants in binding royal promise
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:3
basis: Kaikeyi says the king granted her a boon and now must not break his faith.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:5
label: displaced heir and exile
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Kaikeyi orders Rama to renounce the rites of empire and live in Dandak forest
for fourteen years.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:6
label: substitute heir to throne
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Kaikeyi demands that Bharata be set on the throne with the consecration prepared
for Rama.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: reverential touching of feet
literal_form: Rama clasps his father's feet and touches Kaikeyi's feet.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: fire as possible ordeal of obedience
literal_form: Rama says he would cast his body into fire at his father's bidding.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: ocean as possible death by obedience
literal_form: Rama says he would sink in the waves of the ocean at his father's
command.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: Dandak forest
literal_form: Dandak forest, named as the place to which Rama must go.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: sym:5
label: consecrating drops
literal_form: Drops to be shed on Bharata's head as part of royal consecration.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:6
label: bark garment and matted hair
literal_form: Coat of bark and matted hair to be worn by Rama in exile.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:7
label: fourteen-year exile
literal_form: Duration expressed as nine years and five, and also as twice seven
years.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:8
label: throne
literal_form: The royal throne on which Bharata is to be set instead of Rama.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:4
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Rama before the grieving king and Kaikeyi
summary: Rama reverently greets his father and Kaikeyi, sees the king in a state
of extreme grief, and becomes alarmed.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Rama asks the cause of the king's silence
summary: Rama asks Kaikeyi whether he has offended the king or whether some illness
or misfortune has struck the family.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Kaikeyi demands fulfillment of a royal promise
summary: Kaikeyi says the king is not angry but is afraid to speak; she insists
that Rama swear to fulfill the king's earlier promise to her.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Rama pledges obedience
summary: Rama tells Kaikeyi that he would face fire, poison, or the ocean at his
father's command and asks her to state the king's wish.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Sentence of exile and substitution of Bharata
summary: 'Kaikeyi claims her two boons: Bharata''s royal consecration and Rama''s
exile to Dandak forest for fourteen years in bark garments and matted hair.'
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
- sym:7
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: royal succession displaced by a binding promise
taxonomy_refs:
- royal_legitimacy
basis: 'The passage centers on a contested transfer of kingship: rites prepared
for Rama are redirected to Bharata because the king is bound by Kaikeyi''s claimed
boons.'
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents the command and ritual transfer, not the completed
coronation.
- id: motif:2
label: heroic departure into forest exile
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
basis: Rama is ordered to leave the court for Dandak forest and live there for fourteen
years in bark clothing and matted hair.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The supplied passage gives the sentence of exile; it does not yet narrate
the actual departure.
- id: motif:3
label: obedience to father as extreme self-surrender
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: Rama declares willingness to enter fire, drink poison, or sink in the ocean
if commanded by his father and king.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: These are stated hypotheticals of obedience rather than enacted self-sacrifice
in this passage.
- id: motif:4
label: boon as enforceable sacred debt
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
basis: Kaikeyi frames the king's past grant of boons as an ancient debt that must
be fulfilled to preserve faith and virtue.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy label is applied broadly; the passage itself uses language
of promise, boon, faith, and debt rather than a formal exchange ritual.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 12524-12551
quote_or_summary: The king sits with Kaikeyi, tearful and speechless; Rama clasps
his father's feet, touches Kaikeyi's feet, and is alarmed by the king's strange
grief.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 12552-12601
quote_or_summary: Rama asks Kaikeyi why the king does not greet him, wonders whether
he or others have caused distress, and says the father who gives life should be
a deity on earth.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 12602-12633
quote_or_summary: Kaikeyi tells Rama that the king fears to speak because Rama is
dear to him, but Rama must fulfill the promise the king once gave her as a boon.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 12634-12651
quote_or_summary: Rama says that at his father's bidding he would cast his body
into fire, drink poison, or sink in the ocean, and that his father and king are
one.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain; short excerpt summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 12652-12667
quote_or_summary: Kaikeyi recalls that the king gave her two boons after she saved
his life when gods and titans fought, and she claims that Bharata be enthroned
and Rama sent to Dandak forest.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 12668-12688
quote_or_summary: Kaikeyi commands Rama to uphold the king's word, spend fourteen
years in Dandak forest, let Bharata receive the consecrating drops, renounce the
imperial rites, and wear bark and matted hair.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 12689-12698
quote_or_summary: Kaikeyi says the monarch mourns Rama's changed fate and urges
Rama to save the king's truth; the king's anguish breaks forth, while Rama shows
no grief.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: The narrative roles, objects, and sequence are explicit. Motif labels use
the provided taxonomy and should be reviewed, especially broader labels such as
sacrifice and sacred_exchange.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
No comparison claims were added because the passage itself does not support a specific cross-textual comparison.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg__l12524-l12698
passage_sha256=7e4eefb4985474f7b6902c780c12ec9c8ef6fefc955a3a4c954c701441ee78d3