Hari Om.
Let us begin the forty first sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
There was utter dejection and depression prevailing all over ayOdhyA. Making the words of vasisTha true [2.37. rAma dons the bark], even the intelligent animals such as elephants and cows also sensed the departure of rAma from ayOdhyA and were dejected. Elephants didn’t touch their food, while cows didn’t suckle their calves! What to say of the people? They neither cooked nor attended their chores. It was only rAma who occupied their minds and they pined for him. Back in the royal apartments, the queens were grieving. So was king daSaratha. It was a double whammy for him. The parting of his son on one hand and the grief of his queens on the other. He was doubly depressed. Onwards…
As long as the dust kicked up by the wheels of rAma’s chariot was visible, king daSaratha stood rooted to the ground looking in that direction, unable to retract his gaze. As long as he could see rAma, the king was coming alive every moment and now as he couldn’t even see the dust kicked up by rAma’s chariot, he couldn’t bear it any more and fainted, dejected in grief. kausalyA and kaikEyI rushed to his help and held him on either side. The righteous king blessed with humility and dharma was incensed at the sight of kaikEyI and said the following words – “You wicked woman, kaikEyI, don’t touch me! I do not wish to see you nor are you related to me anymore. I have nothing to do with you or your people. You are selfish and have no sense of dharma at all in you. The hand of yours that I help with the fire god as the witness, that I give up in this world and the next. If indeed bharata is pleased with the kingdom he got thus, may his offerings at my funeral and obsequies never reach me”.
Then kausalya lifted up the king whose body was full of dust, made him lie on the couch and grief stricken that she was, left the place. King daSaratha began to be gutted by untold remorse due to the banishment of rAma. He was devastated thinking of his beloved prince and son rAma in the robe of ascetics. He kept turning his head in the direction that rAma had gone and lamented that he can well see the trail of the wheels of the chariot and marks of the horse feet but he can’t sight the great rAma, after realizing that by now his son must have crossed the limits of the city and well on his way to the forest! The great king appeared lusterless as the eclipsed Sun.
[The king’s thoughts presently dwelt on what the trio should be experiencing in the place vis-a-vis what they would be experiencing now]
“The rAma who usually sleeps on the luxurious couches with the best cushions as his pillows, having smeared fragrant sandal paste over his body and being fanned by maidens, surely would be sleeping at the feet of a tree using either a log or a stone as pillow. He would be waking up from the bare ground like a bull elephant waking up on the praSravaNa mountain! And the forest dwellers would behold the mighty rAma, the protector of the world wandering about in the forests like an orphan. That darling daughter of janaka, sItA who deserves nothing but comfort would tread the thorny patches of the wild and live in fear hearing the roars of the wild beasts.
O kaikEyI, your desire has been fulfilled. Now rule over this inherited land as a widow, I don’t desire to live without rAma”.
Thus lamenting and grieving, surrounded by people, the king reached his royal chambers that portended ominous signs. The hallways of the mansions were deserted, the otherwise busy highways and market places were sparsely populated, temples, shops and markets were closed. The people were exhausted with grief of rAma’s banishment. The king beheld this terrible sight everywhere in ayOdhyA. Lamenting and sulking over rAma, the king entered his palace like the Sun entering into the clouds. The vast palace bereft of sItA, rAma and lakshmaNa resembled a lake with the mighty snakes snatched away by garuDa. The king couldn’t bear it and wailed unconsolably and his voice choked. he could hardly muster a few words to his attendants and that was to take him to the palace of his queen kausalyA.
He was sure, no one else could provide his solace. The attendants gently moved him to the inner chambers of kausalyA and made him to lie down on the couch. He tossed and turned on the couch as his heart found no peace in that palace bereft of his two sons and the daughter-in-law which looked like the sky not adorned by the moon. The king was exasperated and threw up his hands in agony and cried out loudly addressing rAma for having forsaken him! He was sure, he would not survive long and felt how fortunate are those men who would be able to see rAma on his return and embrace him.
The night was hard to pass. It verily appeared like the night of death. The grieving king said to kausalya that he cannot see her as the sight that he had cast on the rAma who was leaving had not returned! He requested her to touch his hand. She was by his side and was sighing deeply, grieving and brooding.
Here we conclude the forty first 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: 2.43. The mother’s heart
Previous: 2.41. ayOdhyA in agony
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 