Valmiki Ramayana · Ayodhya Kanda · Sarga 2
नास्य क्रोधः प्रसादश्च निरर्थोऽस्ति कदाचन।।2.2.45।। हन्त्येव नियमाद्वध्यानवध्ये न च कुप्यति।
nāsya krodhaḥ prasādaśca nirartho'sti kadācana hantyeva niyamādvadhyānavadhye na ca kupyati|
His anger or favour never goes in vain. He kills those who rightly deserve to be killed and flares not at those whose life is to be spared.
— M.N. Dutt (1891)
Commentary
Rama's anger and favour never go in vain — he punishes only those who deserve it and never flares at the innocent. Justice is not absence of anger but anger rightly directed. Rama's wrath is precise because it is governed by discernment, not impulse.
कोपदण्ड