Hari Om.
Let us begin the forty ninth sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
After rAma moved on in his journey to the forests leaving behind the citizens at the banks of river tamasa, the shell shocked citizens are clueless about their next move and after lamenting their sleep, they eventually get home to their families. Instead of being welcomed by the families, the womenfolk castigate them for their inability to follow rAma. Entire ayOdhyA was in distress withou rAma. The mahaRshi vaLmIki gives beautiful form to the devotion of the citizens towards rAma in the last few sargas. They are indeed a masterclass on how devotion towards rAma should be like. As the citizens struggle to come to terms with the absence of rAma in their midst, the camera moves towards the borders of the kingdom where the trio are speeding away in their chariot handled by sumantra. Onwards…
Honouring the word of his father rAma set out from the banks of the river tamasA leaving behind the citizens in slumber. They started much before the dawn and covered quite a bit of distance by the time the morning dawned. They stopped briefly to perform the morning ablutions and proceeded again. Crossing the picturesque villages dotted with blossomed trees and forests, even of they were speeding away, rAma felt they were in fact slowly meandering their way! As he passed through the villages, he heard the gossiping villagers. Quite unanimously the villagers were finding fault with the king overcome by his passion towards the wicked kaikEyI banished such a righteous and virtuous son. They castigated kaikEyI and cast slurs on her for breaking all decorum and ensuring rAma was exiled. They wondered how the delicate sItA used to comforts will handle the difficulties of the forest life. They repeatedly found fault with king daSaratha for having exiled the popular rAma who was the heartbeat of the populace and worked for their welfare. rAma heard these words of distress of the villagers as he passed by.
The trio pass through villages in the outskirts of the kOsala kingdom. Pic from here
Pic from here.
Soon they crossed the sacred waters of river vEdaSruti and traveled in the southern direction. Then as they met the speeding river gOmatI, they went along the flowing river for a long time and then crossed it at a particular point. Having crossed the river gOmatI, the speeding chariot now traveled further and crossed the river syandikA whose banks were replete with peacocks and swans.
He then showed the vast stretches of the ikshvAku kingdom to sItA which were gifted to his ancestors by the great manu himself. Evidently they were crossing the boundaries of the kOsala kingdom and rAma repeatedly addressed sumantra and wondered when again he would be back in ayOdhyA. He wondered when he would go and luxuriate on the banks of sarayu in the blooming forests. He wondered when again he can resort to hunting there, a sport not at all dear to him but dear to the royal personages. He wondered when he would reunite with his parents and kin. The chariot sped away from the kingdom as rAma kept chatting with the charioteer about his thoughts of ayOdhyA.
Here we conclude the forty ninth sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
Click on the book for word by word meaning from IITK website
Click on the bow to listen to the audio by SrIrAma ghanApATi
Next: 2.50. Stopping by a dear friend
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
