Sarga-21
Reputation of the Ikshvakus as donors: 1.21.1-2

It was the sacred duty of the kings of the Ikshvaku race, not to send a supplicant away with his wish unfulfilled. Saubhari says in the Vishnupurana, “O king, I wish to marry your daughter. Give her to me. Do not shatter my love. Never do supplicants coming to the kings of the race of Kakustha with a request go disappointed. O Mandhatar, yours is the only glorious family with a vow, as it were, to fulfil the desires of the supplicants”.
Kalidasa, reiterates the same: “Let there be no new accusation that a supplicant asking for dakshina to be given to his guru went away to another donor from Raghu who could not fulfil his desire”.

Preceptor must advise the king swerving from the right path 1.21.3- 20

When out of affection for his son Dasaratha refuses to fulfil his promise, Vasishta, reatizes that Viswamitra’s fury would create havoc in the entire world so he intervenes. He explains to the king the principle of propriety with a desire to avert the destruction of everything including Dasaratha’s acts of charity.
‘Ministers should restrain the king’, states Kamandaka, ‘from doing an improper act’. ‘Ministers’, he continues, ‘who stop the king swerving from the right path are not just friends. They are his great gurus’.

Rama’s awareness about weapons 1.21.10

Parayanam means the final destination. Because, penance is an instrument used to know reality, there is the Vedic passage which reads, the brahmanas wish to know him through sacrifices, gifts and penance which never harms. The statement Rama knows various weapons suggests all the divine weapons of the Lord came along with him at the time of his incarnation on earth. The poet says ‘arrows of various types and the bow with a long body will follow Rama taking the shape of humans’. No one knows him is the Vedic statement. The gods do not know him even while he is with them. When it is said ‘they will not know him’, it is understood that they do not know him. Or, even when the real greatness of Rama is described, Dasaratha did not become confident because his feeling that Rama was his son clouded his intellect. Intending to remove king Dasaratha’s fear and also to bring good to Rama, he is now elaborating on Viswamitra’s efficiency in protecting Rama. The word Devadayah should be construed with the verb na vetsyanti. It means ‘even the gods do not know’.

Breach of promise considered as an unrighteous act 1.21.1-8

Dasaratha’s speech was brimming over with affection. It showed the impracticability of Rama’s going with the seer. On hearing it, the wrathful seer said to the king:“First you promised to fulfil my wish. Now you withdraw your words. The breach of promise does not befit you, born in Raghava’s lineage. It exposes your untruthfulness. People will lay blame on you, saying that a liar is born in the family of the truthful. As I arrive, I will go back to my hermitage unaccompanied by Rama”.
The threat actually implies Viswamitra’s insistence on having Rama with him. No sooner did Viswamitra, the steady and furious seer, utter these words than the whole earth ruled by him began to tremble. Even the gods were frightened. The statement suggests four ideas. 1. Viswamitra was endowed with great prowess. 2. The gods thought that the seer who was irate with his friend Dasaratha might be angry with them. 3. The earth’s trembling implies the fear of the mother earth. 4. The seer’s wrath was not real, but just contrived. It merely aimed at frightening the king.

Vasishta applauds Viswamitra’s greatness 1.21.10-21

Vasishta applauds Viswamitra’s greatness for appeasing his feigned anger. Vasishta summing up the description of Viswamitra’s prowess, says, “O Raghava, nothing, indeed, that belongs to the past and the future, is unknown to Viswamitra. He is an omniscient, exalted seer and is adorable to all. “O king, the most illustrious Viswamitra is brilliant. As he is self-reliant as noted above, you should have no reservation in entrusting Rama with him.” Vasishta stresses Viswamitra’s arrival as a favorable one for the benefit of the king. He says, “King, Viswamitra, son of Kusika, himself is capable of resisting the demons. However, he approached you, and begged of Rama for the goodness of your son.”
The term “putrahitarthaya” implies that the seer would initiate his whole learning to Dasaratha’s son.