Hari Om.
Let us begin the thirty sixth sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
King daSaratha and his council of ministers are staging a desperate bid to either convince kaikEyI to drop her demand or make rAma’s stay in the forest memorable by sending a large number and variety of enablers ranging from attendants to merchants to forest rangers and soldiers. For the first time kaikEyI is taken aback! Because if it so happens then most of ayOdhyA would be empty and bharata will have to rule an abandoned ayOdhyA! She protests! After minister sumantra, it is minister siddhArta;s turn to coax and cajole her by trying to reason out. But she would have none of these. One by one, all the options and hopes of rAma staying back in ayOdhyA are shutting down. Arguably, there is a complex situation now with daSaratha offering to send accompanying army etc and technically kaikEyI can’t stop that. What now? Onwards…
The gentle rAma having heard the ministers politely said these words to daSaratha – “O king, having given up all the luxuries and comforts I am going to the forest to subsist on what is available there. For such a renunciant what is the use of the entourage? Having given away the best of elephants one has in possession as charity what is the wisdom of getting possessive about the rope around it’s girth?
यो हि दत्त्वा द्विपश्रेष्ठं कक्ष्यायां कुरुते मनः।
रज्जुस्नेहेन किं तस्य त्यजतः कुञ्जरोत्तमम्।।2.37.3।।
I have no need for the entourage. I confer everything upon bharata. I need nothing but the bark to put on right now and get me a crowbar and a basket. I shall dwell in the forest for fourteen years”.
As rAma said so, in the full view of the assembly kaikEyI brought the bark and immodestly handed over to rAghava and asked him to put those on. The best among men, rAma and lakshmaNa removed the fine apparel and put on the bark befitting ascetics. Then sItA clad in fine silk clothes looked at the bark meant for her and was frightened like a mare caught in a snare! But she understood her duties and accepted the bark clothes from the hands of kaikEyI and with teary eyes and shame overpowering her asked of her handsome husband rAma – “How do forest dwellers and ascetics wear the bark robes. I am unfamiliar with that”. Looking at her predicament, rAma came forward and put the bark clothes over her silk clothes demonstrating the way to wear that. All the women in the assembly were filled with tears to see their daughter in law thus wearing bark clothes. They protested loudly to see sItA being clad in the bark robes and insisted that she has not been ordered to go to the forest and so she should not don the bark robes. Further they prayed rAma to let sItA stay with them while he went and dwelt in the forest for fourteen years. While this was going on, rAma helped sItA to don the bark robes.
Sage vasisTha was watching all this and immediately spoke these strong words censuring and restraining kaikEyI – “You evil intentioned kaikEyI, you are crossing all limits of decency. You have deceived the king and as such are a slur on the ikshvAku race. You’re conduct is unbecoming and unrighteous. sItA has no need to go to the forest. She shall stay back and occupy the throne of rAma. For every householder, the wife is like the soul. With that right, sItA can rule over the earth in the absence of rAma. But if sItA insists and follows rAMa to the forest all of us shall follow him – me, the king, his royal entourage, citizens, and even bharata and Satrughna shall live in the forest following rAma. You have the intention of causing harm to people and so you stay here and rule over the land full of trees and devoid of people. Prince bharata will never occupy the throne not given wholeheartedly by his father to him. If he is truly born of daSaratha he will not be like a son to you. He knows the tradition of the land and that of the hallowed ikshvAku dynasty. Even if you were to fly in the sky, he will never accept to rule over this kingdom. Thus while you think you are safeguarding the interests of your son, you are actually doing him harm. There is no one in the world that will not follow rAma as you shall see today – even the cattle, elephants, birds will follow him and even the trees will bend over towards rAma!
That kingdom cannot be a kingdom where rAma is not the king. In fact that forest rAma will dwell will be a kingdom!
न हि तद्भविता राष्ट्रं यत्र रामो न भूपतिः
तद् वनं भविता राष्ट्रं यत्र रामो निवत्स्यति ||2.37.29||
You ought to give your daughter-in-law good clothes and ornaments. She doesn’t need to wear the bark”. So saying sage vasisTha sternly reprimanded kaikEyI and prevented sItA from changing over to the bark clothes from her silks. He also reminded her that since her demand was only about rAma going to the forest, sItA can go in her usual form and along with a group of attendants, chariots and clothes. Although the emphatic vasisTha said so, sItA didn’t want to doge from the righteous path of following her husband.
Here we conclude the thirty sixth sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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Next: 2.38. rAma has a wish!
Previous: 2.36. Sagacious siddhArta speaks up
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 