Hari Om.
Let us begin the fiftieth sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
As mahaRshi vAlmIki moves the scene away from grieving ayOdhyA to the outskirts, the trio sItA, rAma and lakshmaNa are speeding away crossing rivers and rivulets, forests and villages and now have reached the outskirts of the kingdom of kOsala. On the way rAma overhears the words of solid support of the villagers for him and their criticism of king daSaratha and queen kaikEyi. Without giving much attention to that they move on. As they cross the boundaries of the state, even the self restrained rAma cannot but wonder when he will be back in the city of ayOdhyA enjoying with his family in the forests on the banks of ayOdhyA. Onwards…
As they crossed the sprawling kingdom of kOsala, rAma stood facing ayOdhyA and the rAma of high intellect paid respects with folded palms and bid good bye to the glorious kingdom, its inhabitants and guardian gods. He assured the best of the kingdoms lorded over by the ikshvAkus that once he is done with the period of exile and having ensured his father’s words remain true, he shall be reunited with the city of ayOdhyA and with his parents. Then he turned to the villagers who were following his chariot and requested them with teary eyes not to prolong his grief and to return to their homes and attend to their own work and kin. They circumambulated rAma with folded hands and stood rooted there disconsolate as rAma’s chariot disappeared in to the horizon just like the rays of the Sun disappear at the threshold of the night.
Thus rAma, the best among men, crossed through the land of the kOsala kingdom replete with high rises, mansions, mango groves, ravishing fields, sacrificial altars and sacred poles, grains and granaries, prosperous populace, wealth of cattle, sprawling gardens, teeming happy people in his glorious chariot. He traveled through the mainstay of the kingdom and soon beheld the flowing ganga of clear waters, the sanctuary of the sages, the sacred river with the trifold flows in the heaven, earth and the nether worlds. The celestial apsaras, gods, demi gods, gandharvas and their consorts sport in those sacred waters. The waters flow through hundreds of hills resulting in delightful gardens. The river ganga’s roaring laughter is her dashing waters while the resulting foam is like her beautiful smile.
Here she flows straight, there she flows in a bend in a whirl, here she is quiet and deep, there she is flowing fast and furious, here she rumbles, there she roars. Here in the holy waters, gods dip and offer ablutions, there she sports lovely lilies. Here she has curved banks, there she has banks of white sands. The rivers and banks of ganga is a sanctuary for a variety of birds, the cranes, swans and a host of other impassioned bird varieties cooing and chirping every so often. Here on her banks stand tall tress seemingly garlanding her and there in the waters bloom beautiful lilies and the pollen sprinkled over the waters. The trumpeting of mighty elephants is heard on her banks. The ravishing flora and fantastic fauna on her banks makes her look like a well decked up beautiful woman and she is infested with crocodiles, snakes and dolphins. The river ganga is the consort of the ocean that emerged at the feet of lord vishNu, flows on to the matted locks of lord Siva and then flows on the earth due to the intense penance of the descendants of king sagara, ultimately reaching the ocean.
Thus journeying on the banks of the holy river, the chariot reached the city of SRngabErapura. Beholding the mighty river, the charioteer proposed to halt there for the day. rAma concurred and (like a seasoned traveler!) pointed to the presence of a certain ingudi (wiki here) tree and said we shall stay under that tree beholding the mighty river that hosts the gods, celestial beings, sages, humans, birds and beasts with the same felicity and grace. lakshmaNa and sumantra agreed. They reached the hallowed ingudi tree and alighted the chariot. The charioteer sumantra untied the horses and let them rest. The trio reached the shade of the tree and sumantra came there after tending the horses.
There in SRngabErapura lived the chief of the tribal clan (nishAda) by name guha. He was as dear to rAma as his own self! Having come to know about the advent of the best of men to his place, guha hastened there along with his senior ministers. Having sighted from a distance about guha coming to meet him, rAma went forward to receive him. Seeing rAma guha was overcome with emotion and embraced him warmly. He said – “please treat this as your ayOdhyA. I am indeed fortunate to have received a guest such as yourself, command me, what can I do for you”? Then offering a variety of food for them and the horses, guha humbly submitted that rAma is the lord and they are the servants and that he shall happily partake the offering and rule over them happily.
स्वागतं ते महाबाहो तवेयमखिला मही।।2.50.38।।
वयं प्रेष्या भवान्भर्ता साधु राज्यं प्रशाधि नः।
rAma embraces guha (pic from here)
rAma embraced guha tightly and enquired the welfare of him, his kin and his kingdom. He felt delighted to meet him and honored by the fact that guha came there with all the courtesy and humility and politely refused to partake the food citing his vow to wander in the forest wearing barks and matted locks and inability to take anything other than fruits and roots. He requested guha look after the food of the horses that happened to be the favorite ones of his father.
Meanwhile lakshmaNa fetched fresh waters from the ganga with which rAma offered the evening sandhyA ablutions and partook of those waters for that night. Then lakshmaNa washed the feet of rAma and sItA and they both retired for the day under the ingudi tree. Then guha wielding the bow along with sumantra and saumitri moved away to keep vigil over the coveted guest who had graced the land of guha.
As the scion of daSaratha, rAma used to the comforts and luxuries of the palace lay on the bed of kuSa grass spread on the ground, the night dawned…
Here we conclude the fiftieth 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
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Next: 2.50. Stopping by a dear friend
Previous: 2.49. Away they speed away
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 