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Hari Om.
Let us begin the fourteenth sarga of the ayOdhyakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Having understood the demands of kaikEyi as per the boons showered on her in the past, the king was well aware that he has no choice but to honor his words. He, as a righteous king of the hallowed ikshvAku lineage could not do otherwise. He normally wouldn’t even think of not keeping a word given, but in this case, this was the cruel question of banishing his darling son rAma to the forest! Oh, how could he accept it as dharma? His love for rAma was so great that he was prepared to carry the blot of not keeping his word. But then kaikEyi, tactfully kept reminding him of his dharma as a king to keep his word! The king was in a catch22 situation and desperately tried every trick in the book to dodge a situation like that – from coaxing, cajoling, pleading to sternly censuring, cursing, lamenting – all in vain. All his attempts to make kaikEyi not insist on her twin demands did not move kaikEyi at all. Deep inside he knew, he had no other choice but to keep his word. But he hoped against hope and tried his best even as kaikEyi upped the ante. Onwards…
King daSaratha fainted and lay on the ground out of his wits and consciousness. But kaikEyi didn’t relent, in fact she upped the ante and said –
“When I remind you about your duty by speaking the truth, why are behaving like a weakling? You ought to maintain your composure and behave like a king. Why do you sulk as if you have committed a great sin? The learned and the righteous say speaking truth is a great virtue and by speaking the truth I have also enlightened you. Don’t you remember the tales of the yore – how king Saibya parted with his own flesh to the hawk and kept his promise! How king alarka gave away his own eyes as per his promise to a brAhmin learned in vEdas! Even if it can, the ocean which is the lord of rivers doesn’t cross the limits of the shore in accordance with truth. Truth is the highest pursuit O king.
Truth is the absolute brahman. It is the vEda. dharma is embedded in the truth. The highest state can be attained through only truth. If your heart is affixed on dharma, then you be true to your words. You are the granter of boons, in any case! You must uphold dharma and send your son rAma to the forests. I repeat this thrice! If you don’t, then it would mean that you have given me up and I shall give up my life right in front of you”.
Thus as kaikEyi, without hesitation pursued her agenda and pressed her demand, the king was unable to relieve himself of this noose cast by her, much like king bali was caught in the noose cast by lord indra (through lord vAmana). He heart beat wildly as that of a bull moving between the yoke and the wheel and his face turned pale. Tears welled up in his eyes and blurred his vision. Mustering courage, he spoke to her –
“The hand that I held with the fire god as witness, I now disown and with that both you and your son. The dawn is breaking and soon priests and ministers will be here to oversee the arrangements for crowning. Perhaps, rAma can perform my funeral rites with the material that has been arranged for his crowning. You and your son shall not perform my obsequies since you intend to stop the crowning of rAma”. Thus as the king unleashed his anguish on his queen, the night passed in arguing back and forth.
The queen was not to be bogged down and the articulate woman she was, unleashed her wrath once more – “O king, why are you speaking such poisonous and painful words? Summon your dear son rAma here and tell him to go to forest; he won’t be as pained as you! Make my son the unrivalled heir apparent and make me the unrivalled queen mother and settle this matter. This is how you fulfil your duty”.
That helpless king was reminiscent of a horse of the best breed being whiplashed and he spoke helpless words that he wished to see highly virtuous and the eldest son rAma.
Morning dawned with the rise of the Sun. Sage vasisTha along with his disciples passed through the well decked, orderly streets of ayOdhya beholding the excellent merchandise and the well laid out shops, fragrance and festivity was in the air, excited citizens in a festive mood, entered the inner royal apartments along with the wherewithal necessary for the crowning ceremony. Passing through the city that was reminiscent of amarAvati, the capital of lord indra, sage vasisTha beheld the priests who were experts in conducting rituals and yajnas as also the citizens and the able minister sumantra already present there.
Sage vasisTha updated minister sumantra of the arrangements and said – “the waters from river ganga and the seas in golden vessels, various seeds and gems, pedestal made of ficus wood (audambara tree), honey, curds, ghee, milk, puffed rice, darbha grass and flowers are all arranged. Eight beautiful damsells, mighty elephant, a glorious chariot yoked with four horses of best breed and carrying a sparkling sword and the best bow are in order. A palanquin along with bearers, with an umbrella resembling the moon, a horse of the best breed, a mighty lion with four strong teeth, a hand fan made of fine hair from the tail of the yaks, the throne adorned with tiger skin is all set. Firewood to perform yajna, courtesans, priests, cows, other sacred animals, birds and citizens along with the tributary kings speaking sweetly about the upcoming crowning ceremony are all here. Please inform the king of the readiness and hasten him to be ready with rAma for the crowning that should take place at the morning when the pushya star is in the ascendant”.
Minister sumantra entered the inner chambers unhindered by the guards as he was the confidant of the king. The minister was unaware of the state of the mind of the king and approached him singing his praise as was the wont. The loyal minister sumantra’s heart leapt in delight like the ocean swells at the sight of the moon as he beheld the king and sang his praise likening his awakening him to that of lord indra being awakened by his charioteer mAtali and to that of lord brahma being awakened to the chant of vEdas. He further praised – “I wake you up just like the Sun wakes the earth and earthlings up. Please rise O king and put on your best wears befitting the occasion. May you be victorious. May you be graced the Sun, moon, Siva, indra, varuNa, kubEra and agni. The night has passed O king. Please wake up to perform the bounden duty of the day. Sage vasisTha has already arrived with his disciples with full arrangements and so have other eminent citizens and kings arrived. O lord, please do order to begin the crowning of rAma and yourself grace the occasion – we are directionless without your presence like a night sans the moon, like an army without the commander, like the cows sans the bull and like the herd without the herdsman”.
Beholding the loyal sumantra and hearing his praise and the arrangements, the king was moved to tears and was deeply pained thinking of the fate awaiting his dear son rAma. He said as much to the loyal minister. The loyal minister was taken aback and moved back a bit seeing the wretched state of the king. Rising to the occasion and seeing the king unable to speak, queen kaikEyi said –
“sumantra, thrilled at the occasion of the crowning of rAma, the king couldn’t sleep all night. He is weary and sleepy. Go and fetch the illustrious and able prince rAma at once. Let there be no hesitation in this matter”. The minister sumantra thought that rAma is certainly being summoned for crowning and so in accordance with the royal order, left the inner chambers eagerly to fetch rAma. As he came out, he saw a sea of citizens all waiting for the proceedings of the crowning to begin. There he saw citizens, wealthy merchants, tributary kings among others – all waiting to witness the crowning of their darling prince rAma.
Here we conclude the fourteenth sarga of the ayOdhya kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
Next: 2.15. The unsuspecting messenger
Previous: 2.13. No joy for daSaratha!
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 