batch.motif.hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg-l27191-l27356
---
record_id: batch.motif.hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg-l27191-l27356
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
passage_locator:
label: BOOK III. / Canto I. The Hermitage. / Canto V. Sarabhanga. / Canto VIII.
The Hermitage.; lines 27191-27356
start: '27191'
end: '27356'
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: Sita cautions Rama against unjustified violence in Dandaka forest, lists
sins born of uncontrolled desire, and tells a cautionary tale of a hermit corrupted
by keeping a warrior’s sword. She urges Rama to live by the forest rule while
in exile. Rama replies that her words are wise, but says the ascetics of Dandaka
have begged him for protection from fiends who kill and eat them, and recalls
that he promised aid.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Sita speaks to Rama after he has begun his onward journey, expressing modest
fear and concern for his welfare.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: 'Sita identifies three sins born of uncontrolled desire: lying speech, love
of another’s wife, and killing where no strife or hatred exists.'
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Sita says Rama is not guilty of lying or desiring another’s wife, but fears
he may incur the third fault by killing forest giants after promising to aid the
saints of Dandaka.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Sita compares a warrior taking up a bow to fuel causing a dormant flame to
rise.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Sita tells of a truthful hermit named Suci in a holy grove where bird and
beast avoided strife.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Indra, armed as a warrior with a sword, comes to the hermit’s tranquil home
and leaves the sword in the hermit’s care as a pledge.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The hermit carries the sword constantly while gathering roots and fruit, then
turns away from penance, becomes fierce, delights in cruel deeds, and falls to
hell.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: Sita states that the bow is for saving and helping ascetics when enemies press
them, not for killing without offence.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: Sita contrasts warrior weapons with the hermit’s forest rule and urges Rama
to remain pure in the hermit’s grove.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: Rama receives Sita’s words as prompted by true love and describes them as
wise speech.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:11
text: Rama says ascetics in Dandaka came to him with supplicant prayers, reporting
distress caused by malignant fiends.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:12
text: Rama says the fiends eat human flesh and kill and eat helpless saints.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Sita / Janak’s child
description: Rama’s wife, speaking with affection and fear, offering moral counsel
about violence and duty.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:10
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Rama / Raghu’s son
description: A prince and warrior travelling with bow and arrows, addressed by Sita
and replying that ascetics asked him for protection.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Rama’s brother
description: Rama’s brother journeys with him and is mentioned as someone with whom
Rama may take counsel.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:13
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Suci
description: A truthful hermit in a holy grove who accepts custody of a sword and
is corrupted by living with it.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Indra, Sachi’s heavenly lord
description: A divine figure who appears armed like a warrior with a sword and leaves
it in the hermit’s care.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Saints and hermits of Dandaka wood
description: Ascetics living on roots and fruit in the forest who ask Rama for aid
against fiends.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:11
- ev:12
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Giants / malignant fiends / wood-rovers
description: Forest beings whom Sita fears Rama may kill and whom Rama describes
as killing and eating helpless saints.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:11
- ev:12
roles:
- id: role:1
label: moral counselor
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Sita warns Rama about sins, narrates a cautionary example, and advises him
to judge his duty carefully.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:7
- ev:13
- id: role:2
label: warrior under moral scrutiny
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Rama travels armed with bow and arrows, and Sita questions the danger of
killing without hatred or offence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
- id: role:3
label: protector of supplicant ascetics
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Rama says the Dandaka ascetics begged him for aid and that he answered their
prayers.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:14
- id: role:4
label: journey companion and counsel participant
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The brother journeys with Rama, and Sita tells Rama to counsel with him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:13
- id: role:5
label: hermit corrupted by weapon-keeping
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Suci keeps the entrusted sword, abandons penance, becomes cruel, and falls
to hell.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:6
label: divine bearer of warrior’s weapon
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Indra comes armed like a warrior and leaves the sword with the hermit.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:7
label: supplicant forest ascetics
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The saints of Dandaka seek Rama’s protection from fiends.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:11
- id: role:8
label: predatory forest enemies
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Rama describes the fiends as eating human flesh and killing and eating saints.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: bow and arrows
literal_form: Warrior’s bow and arrows carried by Rama in the forest.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
- id: sym:2
label: sword / warrior’s steel
literal_form: A sword entrusted by Indra to Suci, then constantly carried by the
hermit.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: sym:3
label: fire image
literal_form: Dormant or smouldering flame awakened by fuel, used to describe the
arousal of martial ardor by weapons.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:15
- id: sym:4
label: holy grove and ancient trees
literal_form: A holy forest grove with sheltering boughs and ancient trees, associated
with ascetic life.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:9
- id: sym:5
label: roots and fruit
literal_form: Forest food associated with hermits and ascetics.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:11
- id: sym:6
label: hell
literal_form: The destination to which the corrupted hermit falls after cruel deeds.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Sita warns Rama about desire-born sins
summary: Sita tells Rama that uncontrolled desire produces sins and praises him
as free from lying and adultery, while warning him against bloodshed without cause.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:2
label: Cautionary tale of Suci and Indra’s sword
summary: Sita recounts that Indra left a sword with the hermit Suci, who carried
it constantly, abandoned penance, became cruel, and fell to hell.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:3
label: Forest rule contrasted with warrior arms
summary: Sita argues that weapons belong to the warrior’s work of protection, whereas
Rama’s forest life should follow hermit discipline until his royal life is restored.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:13
- id: scene:4
label: Rama answers with the ascetics’ plea
summary: Rama praises Sita’s wise words but says the ascetics of Dandaka asked him
for help because fiends kill and eat them.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:14
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: wise beloved counsels hero against wrongful violence
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Sita, out of love, gives Rama ethical counsel about desire, unjustified killing,
and his duty in the forest.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:8
- ev:13
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents counsel within a marital dialogue; broader motif
classification beyond wisdom should be reviewed.
- id: motif:2
label: weapon corrupts ascetic discipline
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The tale of Suci shows a hermit entrusted with a sword, gradually diverted
from penance into cruelty and hell.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:15
confidence: high
cautions: No supplied taxonomy family directly names this motif.
- id: motif:3
label: protector’s vow to defend forest ascetics
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Rama has promised to aid Dandaka saints and states that they came as suppliants
seeking protection from fiends.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:11
- ev:14
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is truncated before Rama’s full reply, so the outcome of the
vow is not included here.
- id: motif:4
label: tension between warrior duty and ascetic forest rule
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Sita contrasts bow and steel with hermit zeal and urges forest discipline,
while Rama frames armed action as protection of endangered ascetics.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: This is a thematic pattern in the passage rather than a formally identified
taxonomy motif.
- id: motif:5
label: predatory fiends devour holy persons
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Rama says malignant fiends make human flesh their meat and kill and eat helpless
saints.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage reports the danger through Rama’s speech and does not narrate
an attack directly.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 27191-27196
quote_or_summary: After Rama begins his journey, Sita speaks softly and fearfully
to him.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 27197-27225
quote_or_summary: 'Sita lists three desire-born sins: lying, love of another’s wife,
and thirst for blood without strife; she says Rama is free from the first two.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 27226-27243
quote_or_summary: Sita says Rama has promised to aid the saints of Dandaka and now
journeys armed with bow and arrows with his brother, causing her fear.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 27250-27253
quote_or_summary: "“For as the fuel food supplies / That bids the dormant flame
arise, / Thus when the warrior grasps his bow / He feels his breast with ardour
glow.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 27254-27257
quote_or_summary: In a holy grove where animals avoided strife, a truthful hermit
named Suci kept his vows.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 27258-27267
quote_or_summary: Indra, Sachi’s lord, appears armed as a warrior, leaves a sword
with Suci, and entrusts it to his care.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 27268-27285
quote_or_summary: Suci carries the sword everywhere, withdraws from penance, grows
fierce, delights in cruelty, and falls to hell.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 27290-27301
quote_or_summary: Sita says killing without offence brings little glory and that
the warrior’s bow is for succouring forest watchers pressed by foes.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 27302-27321
quote_or_summary: Sita contrasts bow and steel with hermit zeal, says the forest
rule should guide them, and urges Rama to remain pure in the hermit’s grove.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 27329-27338
quote_or_summary: Rama hears Sita’s words as prompted by true love and calls her
speech wise and gentle.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 27343-27350
quote_or_summary: Rama says the pure saints of Dandaka came with suppliant prayers
and have no rest because of malignant fiends.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:12
type: quote
locator: lines 27351-27352
quote_or_summary: "“These make the flesh of man their meat: / The helpless saints
they kill and eat.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: lines 27322-27328
quote_or_summary: Sita says her words are a woman’s fancy, asks Rama to counsel
with his brother, reflect, and do what seems best.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:14
type: summary
locator: lines 27353-27356
quote_or_summary: Rama says the chief of the Brahman race declared the hermits’
grief, and that he answered their prayers.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:15
type: summary
locator: lines 27286-27289
quote_or_summary: Sita explicitly applies the tale to those who deal too closely
with warrior’s steel and repeats that steel is like fuel to a smouldering flame.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/ramayana-griffith.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal extraction is strong for dialogue, symbols, and scenes. Motif labels
are cautious and passage-level; no comparison claims were made because the passage
itself does not compare to another tradition or motif family beyond its internal
exemplum.
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: |-
Passage ends during Rama’s reply, so only the beginning of his justification is extracted.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:hindu-ramayana-griffith-gutenberg__l27191-l27356
passage_sha256=a4b40f6d6070d7bd1b301b66d32a71d4c44cd7c33e5af01ba441794ce250ded8