Hari Om.
Let us begin the seventy seventh sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Prince bharata not only disowned kaikEyI’s scheme to anoint him the prince, but he pretty much disowned her. He came down extremely heavily on her behavior and perhaps she could save her life only on account of being his mother! The blows that he experienced due to the banishment of rAma and death of his father were immense but what literally made them even more painful were the aspersions that kausalyA cast on him! The prince could not take it! Such upbraiding was devastating in the face of his innocence in the whole matter. In order to assert his innocence of the matter, bharata reels out the various acts which are deemed to bring demerit, sin and ignominy upon commitment and tells kausalyA that due to whoever;s prodding rAma had to go to forest, may that person suffer that sin and ignominy. This comes with the refrain यस्याऽर्योऽनुमते गतः ( यस्य अनुमते आर्यः गतः – with whose permission/prodding rAma had to go) in more than thirty five verses – which means bharata listed that many taboo acts! This was an emphatic way of saying if he was involved in this act of banishment, may he face the consequences of committing these sins! mahaRshi vAlmIki sublimely conveys the way to lead a pure life here [2.75. bharata solemnly swears his innocence]. Then the preceptor of the ikshvAku race reminds bharata about his present duty which was to ensure the last rites of the king were performed with due ceremony. As per the instructions, the dutiful bharata immediately performs the funeral rites of the king and the royal family observes mourning of ten days. Onwards…
The ten day mourning period passed by. On the twelfth day, the srAdhha karma was performed. As part of the ceremony prince bharata gave away large amounts of gems, wealth, grains, clothes, herd of white goats, hundreds of cows, servants, spacious houses and vehicles to brAhmins.
Then on the thirteenth morning he visited the place where the funeral pyre of his father was lit, for the purificatory ceremony and having reached there broke down and wept inconsolably and loudly. Addressing his late lamented father he asked – “O father to whose care you entrusted me, how could you send off that elder brother rAghava to the forests and leave me in this terrible wilderness? He was the only refuge for mother kausalyA and you sent him off to forest and now where did you vanish forsaking her”?
Beholding the place of the funeral pyre now with burnt bones and ashes where his father’s body merged in the elements, he shed copious tears and bewailed miserably losing his senses. Even brother Satrughna couldn’t control his grief and fainted remembering the king and recalling his great virtues. Watching the brothers, the ministers immediately rushed to their rescue. Satrughna sounded incoherent and imbalanced as he lamented – “Alas, this sea of sorrow that has submerged us stands unruffled by the conferred boons with the hunchback manthara as the source and kaikEyI as the crocodile. O father, this bharata was always your darling who you pampered always; where have you gone forsaking him? You always showered great delicacies, clothes and jewels upon us. Who will do that now? Without a benevolent king like you how is this earth not breaking into a thousand pieces? Alas, you have ascended to the heaven and rAma has taken refuge in the forest, of what avail is this life to us, I will enter the burning fire. Bereft of brother and father, there is wilderness in the ikshvAku clan and rather than entering ayOdhyA, I shall enter the forests”.
As the brothers bharata and Satrughna lamented thus in complete resonance, and watching the pall of grief that engulfed the brothers as they lay on the ground like wounded bulls, all the accompanying attendants also became pensive. Then the well versed preceptor vasisTha raised bharata and reminded him that it was the thirteenth day since the king was cremated and that his mortal remains should be removed with due ceremony. He told bharata about the three opposites that haunt man all the time – birth and death, pain and pleasure, hunger and thirst – without exception and hence it was not proper to be swayed by these. The valiant sumantra raised Satrughna and drilled the truth about the birth and death of all living beings into his mind. Raised by the counsel, the two brothers were still grieving about the loss and the terrible situation at hand but were prodded by the counsellors to perform their duties that were due at that time.
Here we conclude the seventy seventh 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: 2.78. Satrughna is livid as well
Previous: 2.76. daSaratha merges with the elements
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 