Ayodhya Kandam
(The book on Ayodhya)
Translated by
P.R.Ramachander
(This is the second book of Ramayana. It starts with Dasaratha wanting to make Rama the king of Ayodhya and ends with the sandals of Rama ruling Ayodhya from a village called Nandigrama. Characters like Mandhara the hunchback, Guha the hunter , Bhardwaja the saint are introduced in this book. The other main characters are Dasaratha himself, Vasishta, Sumantra the charioteer, Kaualya, Sumithra and Kaikeyi the three queens of Ayodhya, the other sixty thousand wives of Dasaratha , Rama, Sita, Lakshmana , Bharata and Shatrugna. The wives of Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrugna do not make their appearance in this or in other books that are to follow.)
(Praising to God.)
(Like all other books of Ramayana written by the emperor of poets Kamban, this book also starts with a prayer to God.. A brief summary of the book is given in this verse.)
Oh Rama who wears the heroic anklets, due to the cruel deeds,
Of the hunchback and the younger queen mother ,
You left the kingship , crossed the forest as well as sea,
And by killing Ravana,, solved the problems of Devas ,
And the wise men say that you are spread ,
Like soul in the body and sensations in bodies,
In all the beings made of five elements without any limits.
(Chapter on Royal council)
(In this chapter Dasaratha called for a meeting of the royal council and tells them that he wants to crown Rama as the king and go to the forest to do penance . The royal council approves the proposal . Rama is summoned and told about this proposal . After his acceptance Dasaratha fixes the next day as the auspicious day for the coronation. The city starts celebrating the upcoming event in a grand manner.
Ayodhya Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana starts with the departure of Bharata and Shatrugna to their uncle’s place , The meeting of all citizens, kings and sages is called. Dasaratha proposes that Rama be made as the junior king(yuva Raja). He sends for Rama and makes arrangements for the coronation. Valmiki Ramayana drops hints that Dasaratha wanted to avoid Bharata and Shatrugna ‘s and their uncle’s presence during the coronation.)
1314.Dasaratha who owned the angry royal elephant which has been beautified,
With the series of big drums blaring forth like the clouds,
With cowries made of the hair of the musk dear being rotated,
Reached the hall of the royal council , where aspects are thought about.
1315.After Dasaratha reached the council hall ,as per his humble request,
His relations and friends left that hall , and
Protecting the world with people who are equal to him there,
Like Lord Vishnu who holds the wheel of Yoga becomes alone.
1316.That Dasaratha who ruled the earth and whose white ,
Gem studded Royal umbrella touching the clouds ,
Summoned the elders of the royal council,
Who were like the Guru of Indra , the king of devas.
1317,In the rule of that matchless king who wore ,
Pretty heroic anklets , The sage Vasishta who is considered ,
As the fourth after the holy trinity ,
Who is searched by devas and sages and
Who like the god can order the king came.
1318. Many with greatness due to high birth ,who were trained in all arts,
And who had great knowledge due to experience and its implications came,
They were people who spoke without bias in spite of problems caused to them,
And they also had no pride which is the root of anger and supported Dharma.
1319.They were people who could guess the future by knowledge of past,
And were having the ability to change it if bad results come due to fate ,
They were elders who belonged to great families and had the knowledge from rare great books,
And when we consider respectability , they were like musk deer.
1320.They were the great people who increase the political dharma ,
Who could take decisions after understanding proper place and time,
After gathering methods for implementing them,
And after Comparing it with knowledge in great books of justice ,
And after praying God and they were those who gave
All good results to their king after scientific understanding .
1321.They were prepared to accept the harsh results of the anger of the king,
And advice him properly when he is angry , even not bothering for their life ,
They would never deviate from proper dharma and were capable ,
Of understanding past , present and future and tell truth and nothing else.
1322.They like doctors who were only bothered about good of their patient,
And who were not bothered about the likes and dislikes , were capable of advising the king
Were only bothered for his good and not bothered for his preferences,
And they were those who help the king when unexpected evil effects befall him.
1323. They were all wealthy and though they were sixty thousand in number,
They were one, when the good of their very masculine king , and those ministers ,
Who were difficult to obtain like the waves of ocean that folds filled the council hall.
1324. They came according to their rank and after saluting the sage,
Who knew everything from beginning to end and after saluting their king,
Got up in to their seats as per their rank and also received the grace ,
Of their king who knew the way to speak as per the situation.
1325.When those ministers were sitting there,
Receiving the grace of their king , Dasaratha also,
Saw their faces as per their importance and told them,
“ I have seriously thought about an important decision,
And you know my feelings and you may listen to it carefully.”
1326. Without altering in any way the rule of ,
All the great kings of the dynasty of the king ,
Due to your good cooperation , I have been,
Carrying this earth for past sixty thousand years on my shoulders,
1327.Like the maids protecting their virtue which is proper for them,
I have been ruling the earth due to the God of Dharma ,
And have been doing all possible good to all beings,
And I have now decided to the good suitable to my soul.
1328.I who have reached the desired stage of kingship since a long time,
And like the Adhi Sesha with great head , the elephants in different directions,
And like the eight heritage mountains who are lifting the earth,
I am not able to lift even a little the burden which I have been lifting till now.
1329.The great ones who were born in our clan who were far away from offenses,
After entrusting the job of ruling the country to their sons , used to go to the forest,
And destroyed the attractions due to their five senses and attained salvation.
I am trying to count the number of such greats and see no end to it.
1330.I who have won over all my great enemies in this earth surrounded by water ,
In the worlds in heaven and the worlds below occupied by serpents,
Do not want to live with fear to the enemies within me, like passion and others.
1331. When Kaikeyi who has soft new leaf like feet painted by juice of red cotton,
Was driving the chariot , I had won over ten chariots driven by very angry asuras,
Would I, who has a contended mind , not be able to easily defeat,
These five chariots of the mind being driven by devils?
1332.Those who have opposed enemies who threaten in the battle field and kill them,
And those who have attained great wisdom and have understood life,
Realize that “Wealth is useful only in this world” and forsake it ,
And attain salvation and except these who are all capable of attaining salvation?
1333.Is there a greater evil then repudiating the fact that,
All those born in the world have to die , and except for ,
Giving up attachments there is no other help,
To cross this very huge ocean of birth and death.
1334.The very great action of giving up the world and ,
Getting the knowledge of truth that would lead to it ,
Are the two great wings that would help us,
To cross this big prison of birth,
Is there anything sweeter than crossing that prison?
1335.By catching hold of the soul called five senses which bring sorrow,
Moving away from those crimes which come due to great undefeatable enmity,
If the mind is engaged in ruling over the world of salvation,
Then it would be considered as sweet and will it think about the rule of this world?
1336, Due to my getting you all as senior advisors , I was,
Able to rule over this world by giving it proper care,
And do several acts of Dharma and you all thus helped me,
In spreading my fame in the entire world,
And you should now help me to a comfortable other world.
1337,One who wants to cross all those old karmic deeds,
Can possibly get it only through very great penance ,
And is it proper not to touch a vessel of nectar like food,
And instead of that drink very strong poison?
1338. The life under the sweet shadow of the white umbrella,
And the peacock feathers tied on a pretty elephant in rut is not stable.
And will keeping on eating that already tasted food, give more pleasure?
1339.I was sorrowing for a long time because of absence of sons,
And Rama was born to me to relieve of this long standing pain,
And I just thought of making that Rama suffer this kingship,
So that I can escape from it and get salvation.
1340.Instead of being told by others that , this father of Rama ,
Did not sacrifice his life in the battle field and even after ,
Becoming very old , he did not adopt the life of salvation,
It is better that I hear that I was never born in this world.
1341.After seeing that the gem of males Rama was born to me as my son,
And that the great one got married to Sita who is like Goddess Lakshmi,
I want now to see that rare son marries the Goddess earth,
Of very great qualities and greatly enjoy that experience.
1342. I want that the honourable lady called earth ,
Who is fully lady like and the lady who sits on the red lotus,
Should marry and live happily with the husband that they love,
And I do not want to postpone this result of my penance.
1343.” So I want to give this kingship to Rama and start,
The great penance to remove this sickness called birth,
And for this I have decided to reach the forest.
What is your opinion,” said he to them.
1344.When the king who had huge shoulders told like this ,
Those advisers with joy greatly ebbing out of their mind,
And at the same time thinking of the pitiable state of parting with the king,
Were like the cow which was not able to leave both its calves.
1345, Then in spite of that thinking that the king does not,
Have any other option other than doing like that and also,
Considering that there is no better king to all the beings that live,
Due to the force of fate agreed to the decision of the king.
1346.Vasista the son of Lord Brahma with four heads , after analyzing,
The opinions of the ministers who have assembled there and
The thoughts of the king and the good that is likely,
To happen to all beings of the world told like this.
1347.”Oh king , Oh suitable person , several kings in your clan,
Have rolled this wheel of kingship and had attained great fame.
Who can be there who do not appreciate Rama?
To you who have learned all great books and have understood them,
This is the only action that you can take and this is the Dharma,
That remains to be done. You have thought properly.
1348. Oh great one , who has done fire sacrifices for the good of all,
You can now do great penance and the earth who wears pretty waist belt,
After parting from you , would be not made feel bad for loosing contact with you,
As the son Rama born to you , who wears the heroic anklet would not allow her do it.
1349. Except telling that Rama is the personification of Dharma ,
And is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu in this world ,
What other thing can be told by us at this time?
That very strong one would even correct the trinity ,
Who look after creation, upkeep and destruction of the world.
1350. Oh strong one , Goddess Lakshmi who creates beauty and the lady earth,
Consider that Rama is their sweet help for life , and if they say ,
“That he is their help who is like their soul “, it would not be wrong,
He who is good to you , who have given birth to him,
Would also be good to all the beings that live on earth.
1351.”Oh Valorous one , due to the fact that if someone,
Chants the name of Rama daily all his problems would go away,
All the Brahmins who recite Vedas and others are considering him,
As the result of all the good deeds done by all of them.
When this is so, what can we tell about their love towards him?”
1352.”As for the very famous Janaki , she is better than earth,
In her patience and in beauty she resembles Goddess Lakshmi,
In wisdom she resembles Goddess Saraswathi and in efficiency ,
She resemble the Goddess who rides on the deer,
And her husband Rama is better than even our eye.
People who have learned and not those not learned consider him,
Better that the water we take to live and the soul of the body.”
1353.”Oh king , among those who protect humans, devas and all others,
Sweet souls of this world , no one is better than Rama in protecting them.
When the greatness of Rama is like that , when we see the great deed,
That you propose to do , there is nothing other than godly penance .” said Vasishta.
1354. When Dasaratha heard the words of sage Vasishta , he became more happier ,
Than the day that he had his son , the day when Rama broke the bow of Lord Shiva,
And the day when the sage with an axe was defeated by Rama.
1355,After becoming greatly happy like that , with tears of joy in his eyes,
He saluted the lotus like feet of that sage Vasishta as per ritual and told him,
“Great sir, you told me words which are sweet to my ears and my mind,
Was I not able to rule this earth alone , because of grace on me,
Would not Rama also be able to rule it like that with your aid?”
1356. “Oh sage who is like my father, because of your advice to them,
The kings of my clan established endless fame that can never be destroyed
In this world , completed several yagas and won over their good and bad fate
And I also got that great luck,” said he to that great sage
1357.That faultless sage of penance did not reply anything to this,
And due to the sign made by face of the great council members ,
Who were capable of great thought and deep thinking,
To suit the great Dasaratha , Sumantra stood before , saluted and told.
1358. The words that you told that “Kingship to Rama is suitable”,
Makes us happy but your intention to go away makes us very sad,
It is not proper for you to leave out that Dharma which was done .
Without forgetting by the leaders of your clan and what can be the thing,
That can be more harsher than Dharma. What is it?”
1359.With the minds playing due to joy like drum, for the kings who had ,
Huge army of elephants, for the people of the city , for the old
Members of the council and to the great sages like Vasishta ,
He told, “Perform as per ritual the coronation of your gem like son Rama,
And then you take action to get detached with this world as per you wish.”
1360,When these words were softly told by Sumantra , the king told,
“You told properly. After celebrating the crowning of Rama,
We will do necessary things later. So you , yourself go with great speed,
And bring that husband of Goddess Lakshmi here.”
1361,That Sumantra who knew the mind of the king then saluted him,
Travelled fast in the king’s avenue where mountain like buildings were there,
With as much joy , as if he has himself got the world,
And with a golden chariot entered the home of Rama.
1362.Lord Rama was sitting there along with young Lakshmana who was holding ,
The cruel bow which is always with him and along with Sita,
Who was like sweet nectar among ladies , was sweetly sitting near him .
Sumantra with his eyes and mind which were like bees saw ,
That very sweet combination with great joy.
1363,He saw them , saluted them and said to Rama,
“Oh Lord , The king who owns this earth which is surrounded by ocean,
Told me, “There is a matter to tell and so bring Rama quickly.”
Then the lotus eyed Rama suddenly got up and like a black cloud,
Got in to the huge chariot of Sumantra , on which a flag was flying..
1364. With drums in a row raising huge sound like a unified cloud,
With the conch bangles from ladies falling down with sound,
With devas shouting, “ all our problems have been solved”,
And with surrounding the flowers on his head , He got in to the chariot.
1365.When Rama entered the road lot of musical instruments were played,
The flower arrows of God of love increased , the strings of bow made sound,
And the great waters of the thought of Rama, broke the dam called,
Control of mind of the ladies and they left off shyness and ,
Filled up the entire street like female deer.
1366. In the gates of big buildings with long pillars , its moon lit courtyards,
Several lotuses flowered with ear globes and untied hair ,
They flowered in the windows of those buildings and appeared as if,
Swords getting mixed with blood stained spears and bees and fishes.
1367. On the flower garland lying on the mountain like chest of Rama,
Who had round moon like face and black cloud like colour and,
Who was the lord of Devas , the fish like eyes of ladies who had red lips ,
Followed their characters like shyness and settled along with bees there.
1368.With their dresses going down along with their cloud like hair,
The flowers fell down, With their cool eyes making groups of pearls,
There were flowers which they threw and also there were dried flowers,
As they had to come through the ornaments worn over their youthful breasts,
And besides from the star filled sky the devas also threw well opened flowers.
1369.As soon as they saw Rama, they removed the lustrous sword like eyes,
From the eyelid like scabbards , came carrying their moon like faces with great effort,
And they who were looking like golden horns had sweat on their tender coconut,
Like breasts and on that they had brown golden patches with gingelly like spots ,
Which were both indicating their love sickness towards Rama.
1370.When such things were happening there, all males who saw Rama,
Became happy like the cows seeing their calves , and he along with,
His pure brother rode on the chariot of Sumantra and .
Reached the council hall with the happy Dasaratha and entered there.
1371.As per the traditions that were followed, after Rama saluted the sage,
He saluted the lotus like feet of Dasaratha who was an expert in sword fight.
When he saluted like that, Dasaratha with ebbing love towards him.
With eyes shedding tears of joy hugged tightly to his chest,
That Rama who was consort of Sita who had fruit like cheeks.
1372.Dasaratha hugged his son who is personification of all good,
So that he wanted to measure his ability to rule the earth surrounded by water,
By measuring the mountain like shoulders of Rama and his garlanded chest ,
Where Goddess Lakshmi lives with his own shoulders as well as chest.
1373.After making Rama sit near him with great joy and after seeing him with joy he told,
“Oh master with long shoulders who destroyed the fame of he , who has an axe to fight,
There is something that I need from you as one who has given birth to you and brought you up.”
1374.”Oh Master , I have become greatly tired, the old age which is difficult to bear ,
Has crept in to my body and so I need your help to get out of the great prison,
Of the heavy responsibility of ruling this very wide country , which is sorrowful,
And allow me to lead a life leading to salvation by travelling in the matchless path.”
1375.”The great ones give birth to a son who has all responsibilities ,
Get away from sorrow and enjoy life in this world and the other,
And it is not proper for me who have begot a son who is
Dharma personified to get tired and so if you wish ,
To obey my useful words and help me do what I should.”
1376.”Oh son , the great crowned pretty kings of our clan ,
For the sake of their sons to become kings and protect this broad land,
Destroyed the three enemies(anger , passion and confusion) which were made by five senses,
Completely and attained salvation and their number cannot be estimated.
1377.”Due to the good that we do in previous births and by the,
Yagnas(fire sacrifices) that I did in this life , I begot you as my great son,
And suppose I continue in this sorrow of kingly life ,
When would I able to get fulfillment got by begetting you.”
1378”.I who am suffering due to the burden of the kingdom , like,
A bull drawing a cart with heavy burden on one side and being lame on the other side,
Want to get rid of that sorrow and attain the limitless joy of wealth of salvation,
And oh master , you have to help me in fulfilling my desire.”
1379. “Once upon a time the matchless Bhagiratha , due to his ancestors ,
Not having the character of travelling in the right path , for the sake of their salvation,
Brought the river Ganges from the feet of Lord Vishnu , who is the deity of our clan,
In to this world and made his fathers climb in to the world , where there is no return.”
1380”.In this world those who have come out of great sorrow are not
Those who live as kings or those who are like Indra living in heaven ,
And wearing golden heroic anklets or those who have done great penances
But those who beget children who follow what they order.”
1381.”Because of that do not think that the king gave me the heavy burden,
Of kingship which causes lot of sorrow in a deceitful manner but,
Wear the crown which this king wears and make grow the dharma of just rule ,
And I only request you to agree to my humble demand.”
1382.When his father told him like that , the lotus eyed Rama ,
Did not think that he had got the kingship nor did he berate ,
It , saying it is sorrowful but he thought that being a king is his duty,
And he would have to obey whatever has been ordered by the king to him ,
And that accepting kingship by him is the only just action ,
And decided to accept the kingship that was offered to him.
1383.Dasaratha with white royal umbrella understanding mind of Rama,
After telling him, “give me this boon” hugged him as if he merges with his soul,
And surrounded by his council members who were like veda ,
Reached his palace which did not have anything comparable to it.
1384.Rama with high and pretty shoulders along with great Brahmins,
Many kings of great character , the lads of Ayodhya who were happy to see him,
And ladies surrounding him on all his sides reached his great palace.
1385-1386,Dasaratha in his letter head with the seal of Garuda , which ,
Brought him greatness sent gold letters to all victorious kings and ,
Said to great Vasishta , “oh great one , please arrange all that is needed,
To Crown Rama with the great crown which is made artistically ,
As per need and as per tradition.” And then that sage of great penance ,
Said , “great” and with joy got in to a great chariot and,
Went along with crore of Brahmins and told the kings there,
“Oh kings , as per royal tradition , the wealth and country ,
That is being given to Rama are as great as his consort Sita.”
1387.Those kings who had drunk the sweet words told by Dasaratha ,
Did not stand normally but got drowned in that water of joy,
And since the joy in their mind had crossed its limits,
And appeared at the bottom oh hairs all over their body .
Became like souls which leaves the body and reaches heaven ,
And felt as if they have all reached this heaven along with body.
1388.Those kings having same thought and being happy ,
Each thinking that the other became king like him and becoming happy ,
Came row by row and saluted Dasaratha who had white Royal umbrella,
And softly told their opinion “your thought is really great.”
1389.They told “Let the world belong to Rama , who destroyed the pride,
Of Parasurama who destroyed our families for the past twenty one generations,
Using his very sharp axe,” and “This decision is according to Dharma.
1390. All kings who did not have any difference of opinion told like this,
And Dasaratha keeping these deep in his mind and not showing out ,
His inward joy , told this to know about the measure of their opinion.
1391.”Did you tell this after being confused by the love towards my son,
Or the words told by you was done after hearing my thoughts ,
And has been done because of real joy of your mind,
I would like to know from you , which of them?”
1392.When Dasaratha told like this to them , those kings told ,
“oh great one , please hear with joy the love ,
That people of different parts of this country,
And other countries , have on your son.”
1393.”Oh king born in dynasty of Manu , like we tell that ,
The wealth of kingship without any drawback should come to Rama ,
He already has permanently charitable nature and very good behavior ,
Great understanding of truth , the nature of looking after elders.”
1394.”Who are there in this world who would like to prevent,,
The public water body to be filled up or trees to grow healthy ,
So that they can be useful to all or clouds rain in proper season ,
Or the river that irrigates the fields always has adequate water
1395. Oh king who has elephants who have trunks as big as ,
The palm tree , similar to all beings who had nature of loving you
Rama also has similar and same type of love to all of them,
And they also are having love towards him.
1396. When Dasaratha heard the council members tell like that ,
The entire mind of that king was completely filled with joy,
And all his sorrows vanished from his mind , and he ,
Became one who expresses joy and ,
Started having his eyes filled up with tears of joy.
1397.Dasaratha told the kings ,”Oh kings who are firm on,
Lack of bias , good activities , the dislike to bad deeds ,
From now on Rama is the son of you all and instead ,
Of telling “my son” , I will tell “your son”.
And entrust him to you. Please look after him.”
1398. After the council ended, That king who ruled ,
Taking with him an expert who knew astrology ,
Went inside a mountain like hall ,
For finding the auspicious day for the coronation.
2.Mandharai Choozchi Padalam,
Chapter on Mandhara’s evil plan.
(This chapter begins by telling how the information about the crowning reaches the queen Kausalya of Dasaratha. Dasaratha as per advice of astrologer decides to have the coronation next day. The entire city is decorated. Sage Vasishta goes and Rama and advices him how to rule the country. Kooni the hunchback friend of Kaikeyi poisons her mind and she decides to ask two boons from Dasaratha,
No temple or worship in temple is mentioned in Valmiki Ramayana. In Valmiki Ramayana Dasaratha himself informs Kausalya of the coronation . Sage Vasishta only instructs Rama and Sita about rituals to be observed and nothing about how to rule. Honouring of Brahmins as a duty of the king is not dealt in Valmiki Ramayana in this great detail.. No ritual is conducted by Sita in Kamba Ramayana. Kooni according to Valmiki Ramayana is one among the dower sent by Kakeyi’s father. The incident of her being hit by Rama is not mentioned in Valmiki Ramayana. There is a hint in Valmiki Ramayana that Kekaya had taken a promise from Dasaratha , that her son would be crowned as the king. )
1399.When these things were happening in the royal council,
Some four ladies who knew about it who were loving Rama,
Along with open breasts due to the cloth getting untied,
With untied long hair which had fallen ,
Who were trying to catch hold of their fallen dresses,
And with their waist breaking ran speedily to tell the news.
1400.Those four girls were dancing and were singing,
Without bothering about the tune and made all those ,
Who see them keep their hands over their head ,
And without knowing what to tell went in front of Kausalya.
1401Kausalya who had given birth to Rama who had the colour of the cloud,
Saw those ladies who came to her with love and said, “Oh ladies with ,
Mouth like the red fruit , from seeing you, I can guess that you have come here,
To tell a very happy news and so please tell me that joyful news.
1402, They said, “The emperor Dasaratha is going to keep the crown,
Which has been there for ages , on the head of Rama , who is ,
Your worshipful son so that all kings would salute his feet with heroic anklets,
And are going to tell him , “For a long time protect this world.”
1403.Hearing that thinking that her son would get the wealth of kingship,
A sea of joy was created in her mind and making is subside ,
Was the fearful thought that the king would go to the forest ,
And made her feel that Badamukhaagni was drying away her throat.
1404,In spite of that she presented to the ladies who brought the news,
Invaluable pearl necklaces and heaps of wealth and ,
Then along with Sumithra who was very close to her ,
She reached the temple of the God who had the shining wheel.
1405.After going there she saluted the feet which was like a flower in the pond of,
Lord Vishnu who was sitting with Goddess Lakshmi and the Goddess earth,
And who was the soul, the wisdom and source of all the devas .
1406.That Kausalya who kept in her belly, that enchanter God
Who had kept in his divine belly all the worlds ,
Prayed , “please shower your grace on my son,
Who by your grace was born to me.”
1407.After requesting like this , she arranged to worship,
The consort of Goddess Lakshmi to be worshipped as per four Vedas.
And gave as charity cows with calf to all those .
Who were doing penance near the temple.
1408.Meanwhile the experts in mathematics told Dasaratha,
That the most auspicious day for crowning of Rama was the next day,
And as soon as he heard that Dasaratha who owned huge elephants in rut,
And also was wearing heroic anklet , requested Vasishta who had done great penance ,
And caused sufferings to his own body to come there and he came.
1409.Dasaratha told him, “Tomorrow is the auspicious day ,
And to that Rama who has shoulders where pretty bows rubbed,
Should be made to do the necessary rituals with great speed,
And he has also to be taught the dharma of proper rule.”
1410, Vasishta travelling with more speed than his great joy,
Reached the door of Rama , the Lord of the Manu clan,
And hearing about his arrival , the well garlanded Rama ,
Came out and sweetly received him and took him inside his palace.
1411. That Holy Vasishta who was capable of doing great penance without rest,
Looked at Rama who had learned lot of great books and had lot of heard-knowledge,
And said, “Oh expert in war , Dasaratha who has great love towards you,
Is going to give away the rule of this kingdom to you tomorrow.”
1412.After saying this , he again looked at Rama and said,
“There is some thing very important that I need to tell you,
Hear it with attention and follow it with sincerity,”
And after this he started telling the well garlanded Rama.
1413.”Brahmins who are expert in Vedas are greater than,
The black colured Vishnu, Shiva with an eye on his forehead ,
The Brahma who sits on his own lotus flower , growing out of the belly,
, The five great elements as well as truth and so salute them mentally.”
1414.”Oh son , Is there any method to find out,
The number of Brahmins getting angry , number ,
Who join with our mind and shower their grace ,
And the number of devas who became sad and those ,
Who became great without any effort. , due to that,”
1415,”And so Rama , because Brahmins are like that , You ,
Salute the holy feet of such Brahmins who have moved ,
Away from cruel deeds , praise and pray them , tell sweet words ,
To them and also do the jobs as ordered by them.”
1416. “When they order , the fate would also help you,
To become great and also to get destroyed,
And there is nothing greater than praising ,
Those devas of the world .”
1417. Even the holy trinity who get great strength by possessing the,
The rolling wheel, the trident and the Goddess Saraswathi who never gets confused,
If they leave out holy dharma , purity of the mind and merciful behavior,
They would find that nothing good is happening to them.
1418.”Oh son of justice , You do not posses the qualities like ,
Deception which can lead you to your destruction but ,
Please think about how one attains such criminal habits.
1419.When you do not have enmity with any one ,
You do not fight with any one, your fame would be stable ,
Your army would not reduce and it would be stable, ,
And if it is so would any one want to fight with you?
1420.”Oh son, Controlling the five sense organs which lead ,
To their controlled pleasures , if one daily examines ,
The income to the government , we would be strong enough ,
To scare our enemies and that is the ideal rule and that rule,
Is like a penance , one does standing on the tip of the sword.”
1421.”Even if one is Shiva with his consort of Uma or Lord Vishnu riding high on Garuda
Or Lord Brahma having eight eyes that does not blink or to the king with great shoulders ,
The ruling of the country according to advice of Minister is masculine thing to do.
1422.T o those sages who have become ones with only bone and skin,
And the devas who do not have that also , the control of Their great enemy,
Which is their sense organs do not have
a better wealth than,
Love , which has nothing before or
after in all the three worlds.
1423. In this world of all beings , The kings are like bodies,
To all those souls and to them , if they do not cross the limits of Dharma,
And Truth, at any time without any doubt whatsoever ,
What is the need of doing Yagnas and Yagas?
1424.If a king talks sweetly , has charitable habits ,is a thinker,
Who puts in effort to do work , is pure , is great, gets victories ,
Who never moves away from the tenets of justice even a little .
Then would that king face destruction at any time?
1425. By removing all those which do not support good character,
And maintaining his sense of justice like the hand of balance used to weigh gold,
Any great king who rules the world , and he would not need an eye,
Except the time when they are hearing the advice of good ministers.
1426,If a king acts as per the advice of sages who are thinkers ,
And are deeply interested in what they do without any change ,
Due to the great love and reverence they have to them,
Then their love and honour towards him is a great weapon to him.
1427. If the passion raised by the ladies who wear pretty waist belt ,
Who are termed as the comets on this earth, are not there in a king,
He will never face destruction nor will he go to hell.
1428. Vasishta who was an expert on religious philosophy,
After teaching these and other rules of Dharma and justice,
To Rama who is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu who swallowed all the three worlds,
Along with him reached the temple of the God with thousand crowns.
1429.After worshipping the God who sleeps on his snake bed,
He made Rama bathe in the auspicious waters made by chanting of four Vedas there ,
And after completing all rituals prescribed by wise people .
He spread white Durba grass on the floor and made Rama sit on it.
1430. When Rama was sitting on Durba seat and happily doing the rituals,
Vasishta who wears the three stringed sacred thread on his chest ,
Quickly went back and told about it all to the emperor , who ordered,
That the proclamation to decorate the town be made by beating the drum,.
1431. The One who proclaims went round the city and beat the drum and told,
“Rama would be crowned as the consort of the mother earth,
And so let this city be decorated.” And this also made the devas happy .
1432.Though the words that that Rama the lad , who had the fame ,
Of the poems singing about him would wear the pretty crown,
Were one which made the ears sweet , to all those people of the city,
It was like the offering given in sacrifices as well as nectar.
1433. They made great sound , became happy and danced and sang,
Some developed sweat , some increased in weight due to joy,
To many the hairs stood erect , and they praised king Dasaratha,
And gave great wealth to all who told this good news.
1434.Those loving citizens of the city beautified it,
Which was already pretty like improving the luster,
Of the Sun who has packed together rays ,
And like polishing the Kausthuba gem,
On the wide chest of the God who lies down.
1435,Several rows of flags coloured as white, black red as well as other colours.
Appeared in the city and it was looking like that all the birds have entered the city,
To witness the great coronation Ceremony of Rama who wears flower garlands with honey.
1436.There banana stems resembling the thighs of the ladies were erected,
And like the neck of those ladies , the city became crowded with betel nut trees,
And like the white colour of their smile , here and there garlands of pearl hung,
And golden pots filled with water resembling their breasts were arranged.
1437.The early sun entered the city through the decorative hangings,
Of the doors of the city and a distinct ptrettiness came to light ,
And those decorative hangings in the form of sharks were made to touch the moon,
And gave out very great brilliance and gave a very fresh look.
1438.Those faultless pillars made of red gems which were covered with white cloth,
Resembled the white ash coated Shiva having the blue coloured Uma by his side,
And the pillars made of white pearls were looking like morning sun hid by snow.
1439.The streets of the city with the luster like full moon created by gem garlands
And the rows of gem stones thickly erected gave out light like early sun,
And crowd of blue gems creating light darkness ,
And the day very well coincided to the day fixed by experts on astrology.
1440. The Groups of chariots with decorations like dancing horses ,
Resembled the planes which have descended from heaven to earth,
And the huge elephants in rut with shining face mask .
Was like the rising mountain which can be compared,
To the sun roaming in those streets.
1441. In the city blessed with wealth , on the huge walls built by crystal stones,
Red gems were climbing and shining and due to that, the red sky ,
Which appears in the evening because it removes darkness , neither grows nor reduces.
1442.in those streets with buildings there was rain of flower,
Rain of water , rain of fresh scented powders ,
Silver rain due to falling of pearls and the golden rain,
Due the dashing together of golden gems ,
And it looked like there was a huge rain there.
1443,Like the heroes who have tied their heroic anklets with a rope,
The Elephants in rut which can be compared to clouds,
Were tied with she elephants who were like the ladies of the city ,
Who were wearing hanging waist belts and had chariot like hips,
Walked along with the garland with bells tied on them.
1444.In the city the rising wealth , beauty and joy ,
Were not reducing and without knowing it earlier ,
When the devas came to see the coronation ,
They thought they have not come to Ayodhya and were confused.
1445.Due to the very great sound that was being made to decorate the city,
And make it like the golden town of devas , like the horrors done by Ravana,
Was born again in earth to destroy him , Kooni ,a hunchback lady ,
Who had a cruel mind that is not approachable came out and saw it.
1446.That Kooni who came out like that , with her mind shaking ,
With great anger and mind that was giving her pain ,
With eyes giving out fire sparks , with voice which was stuttering ,
Started creating a matchless sorrow to all the three worlds.
1447. She recollecting the mud ball which hit her , being sent by Rama,
In his very young days in her mind , with a mouth with folded lower lips,
Reached the palace of Kaikeyi who had a red mouth like Kovvai fruit.
1448.She reached Kaikeyi who was like coral garland lying on the waves of ocean of milk,
And was like a lotus flower generated the best of the gems of the four seas,
And whose eyes were showering grace who was sleeping on a very soft bed.
1449. Like the bad planets moving from one place to another to cause problems,
She neared Kaikeyi who was the daughter of Kekaya and touched her feet ,
Which was like a fully open lotus flower due to penance
And on which she was wearing a golden anklets.
1450.As soon as Kooni rubbed her feet , that lady who had a godly virtue,
Woke up and though sleepiness has not left her long eyes ,
And being egged by the horrible fate which will bring her bad name,
She started to talk to her in conversation.
1451.Kooni said, “Like the moon shining with light which produces coolness,
Every thing does not change even when the cruel snake Rahu is nearing it,
Even while a great sorrow is coming to give you lots of trouble,
You do not seem to be sorrowing but sleeping happily.”
1452-1453.When that Kooni who was like great poison told like this ,
Kaikeyi who had a spear like eyes said “ My sons who hold the bow,
To kill their enemies are doing well and in their jobs,
They never waver from path of Dharma and so What bad ,
Trouble can come to me now? And it is told that ,
Those who give birth to sons with good characters ,
Which are praised by others , would leave out,
Sorrow ,that cannot be removed and attain salvation.
And when I have given birth to Rama who is like Vedas ,
To all the worlds which do not mix together , What problem can come to me.”
1454.When Kaikeyi who had very deep love towards Rama told like this,
That Kooni , who was like the sin surrounding her started talking and told ,
“Your welfare has been destroyed,, your wealth has suffered ,
Your step wife Kausalya due to her intelligence has got wealth and welfare.”
1455.When Kooni told those words , she who wears selected ornaments,
Said, “Since my husband is the king of kings and since my son Bharata,
Is a very famous one , What other greater thing is going to be achieved by her?”
1456.”With masculine men making fun of him , bringing stain to his masculinity ,
Rama bent his great bow to kill a lady who was known as Thadaga ,
And his coronation would be carried out tomorrow and this is what Kausalya got.”
1457.And when these words were told to her , the mind of Kaikeyi,
Was exactly like the mind of Kausalya and she could not see the difference,
For , the father of Rama had entered in to her mind and was living there.
1458,Due to love rising up and making sound of happiness like sea in her mind,
That pure one with a faultless face shined like moon and due,
To it further rising up and cross all the boundaries , she gave ,
A garland made of Rathnas which was like the chief of all flames.
1459.The cruel Kooni shouted in a loud voice , chided ,
Stared with her small eyes so that fire came out of it,
Berated her , Took deep hot breaths , disfigured herself ,
Cried and using the golden chain to dig a hole on the floor.
1460.That kooni who gave rise to pain saw Kaikeyi with anger ,
And said, “you are ignorant , your mind is not all right,
You suffer sorrow along with child born to you ,
I cannot tolerate you to be servant to the servants,
Of your step wife for a very long time.”
1461, “When the Sita with red mouth and the black prince ,
Are seating in a high seat with great joy , if the time comes,
When Bharata without any thing has to sit on the floor
You will think about the reason for your happiness,
As well as the good that you are likely to get for being happy?”
1462,”Kausalya has not forgotten the good that has come to her ,
And Rama has attained the kingship which is wealth among wealth,
Because Bharata was born to you he has not died and for,
What purpose has he to live? Though he is born , he is as good as not born.”
1463, If the entire world is going to be truly ruled by Rama ,
And Lakshmana and they also are going protect this country,
For limitless years it is better for Bharata along ,
With his brother to go away and do great penance.
1464.The well decorated Bharata who has the elephant in rut,
With prettiness which attracts the lady of earth , should rule the earth,
And should be kept in the row of great kings,
But since he was not born to that, it is better he dies.
1465,”That king Dasaratha who wears heroic anklets made of gold
Since Bharata has not been lucky ,was sent by him ,
Through the mountain path with teak trees to ,
The Kekaya country which is very far off.
I came to know the reason for that only today.”
1466,Again Mandhara(kooni) started telling in a classified manner,
“Oh my son, Oh Bharata , by giving the country to Rama ,
By going away from justice , using the water of the world,
Dasaratha has become a cruel man and your mother ,
Also has become cruel , In between them what can you do?”
1467.”Oh Kaikeyi , you who were born in a royal family ,
Who was brought up in a royal family , got married in to a royal family,
Are falling in the ocean of sorrow , where to find the shore is difficult,
Even if I tell you are not obeying , do you understand it.” said she.
1468.”Bharatha has knowledge ,, youth , inestimable strength ,
Greatness is war with bow and limitless very good qualities ,
And if he does not become the king , all these ,
Would go waste like the nectar which falls on grass.”
1469.When the cruel words were told by Kooni , making her mouth bitter
Fell on her , Kaikeyi felt as if ghee has been poured,
On already raging fire and that pretty daughter of king of Kekaya,
With great anger making her eyes red stared at Kooni and started speaking.
1470.”Oh cruel one , great people, like the lustrous great sun,
Will not swerve from the path of truth even if they loose things like their soul
These kings who belongs to the Manu clan who follow the clan ,
Descendent rules like the peacock. Why did you tal ill of them by base intentions.”
1471.”Oh lady with an ignorant mind , you are not one who does good to me,
And you are also not one who does good to my son Bharata,
And if we examine as per Dharma, you are not one who does good to yourself,
And due to being lead by Karma , you are telling what is in your mind.”
1472.”Giving bith to children loosing them and getting another one
All lead to fame but if we lose our fame , lose our sense of justice,
Lose the nature of following good path , lose the penance that we are doing ,
Lose the valour without doing mistakes or change the rules of our clan ,
We lose our fame completely.”
1473.”Oh ignorant one , go away from my front , I have pardoned you,
Without punishing you by your toungue which is silly ,
If this is known to people outside you would be considered ,
As having done treason to justice and rules of behavior, so keep quiet.”
1474.That Kooni , in spite of hearing these words , like any effort of curing poison,
Is not effective in curing it and causes sorrow said , “Oh lady who is like a pretty creeper,
Who is in my protection , unless I am able to do good to you , I will not move out,”
And fell at the feet of Kaikeyi and further talked.
1475. “If we see the practice that the eldest son inherits the kingdom,
Is not Rama with a colour of the blue sea , younger than Dasaratha who rules the earth?
And if Dasaratha agrees to give the crown to Rama who is younger,
How can we stop Bharata from inheriting this kingdom which gives progress?”
1476. Even in case the sages who are full of Dharma and who have done,
Very great penance , after receiving difficult to get wealth , their thought changes,
And though Kausalya does not torture you with intention of killing you,
By their mind they would cause you great sorrow so that you would die by yourself.
1477.For Kausalya who has very broad imagination, if her son is going to rule
Thinking of the land he gets is not sufficient , she would try to own the entire world,
And you and your son who has great love to you , will own only what she gives you.
1478.To those followed by sorrow and poverty who are forced to come to beg in your house,
Would you give wealth after begging from her? Or would you stand there ashamed?
Or would you commit suicide thinking that this bad fate has come to you?
Or would you say no to the beggars ? How are you going to live?
1479.Oh intelligent one , Are you worried as to what is to be done?
In the future after some days , your father , your brother ,
The relations of yours or those who are there in your clan,
Thinking of destroying their poverty and loss in status , if they come here ,
Would they be able to see your wealth or the wealth of your step wife ?
1480.”Oh ignorant one , fearing your husband who has great love towards you,
Janaka the father of Sita with mouth as red as the red fruit ,
Has not waged a war and destroyed your father and he is now uncle of Rama,
Is there any future left to your father , Who are in this world who have as much bad name as you?
1481,Also your father Kekaya have other great enemies and when they attack him,
If the king Of Kosala does not go and help him , how will your father get victory?
Please tell that way, You have firmly decided that your relations would fall in the sea if Sorrow.
1482.You have completely spoiled the chances and destroyed your pet son Bharata.
If Dasaratha who owns the earth dressed by the ocean with rising tides ,
Gives the kingship to Rama then later it would go only to his children,
Or his very close brother Lakshmana . Would it ever come back to Bharata?
1483.When the cruel Kooni told like this , due to illusion created by devas,
Who wanted the boon that they had received should come true ,
And also due to great penance done by great Brahmins
The mind of Kaikeyi changed to the path that was indicated by Kooni.
1484.Due to the sins of Rakshasas and the great penance by other people,
Which stood in her mind like a good deer , she left off her good mercy.
And due to that all these worlds belongs to Rama even today ,
And his epic great fame keeps on spreading everywhere .
1485.That Kaikeyi whose mind has changed like that saw with love,
That Kooni who was full of Karma said,”You are having love towards me.
You are being good to my son Bharata also .Please tell me how,
That Bharata would posses that very pretty crown.”
1486. When Kaikeyi who had eyes like the half cut tender mango , told like this,
Kooni said, “My friend is an able lady and she who is my help is a great lady”
And Saluted the feet of Kaikeyi “if you are going to obey my words and make the mind of Dasaratha,
Depressed then I will tell you how to make all these fourteen worlds come to your only son Bharata .”
1487.She who was hunch backed in the mind also said, “Oh lady with a cool gem like smile,
After great thought I am telling you some thing. When the Sambarasura who was wearing ,
The garland of victory was defeated , and Dasaratha won as if that battle was an easy sport,
He gave you two boons and now you demand that from him and get it.”
1488.”Using one of those boons make , your son get the kingship,
And using the other make , Rama wander in the great forest,
For fourteen years after he goes away from Ayodhya ,
If you do this , the entire rich world would obey,
Your son Bharata and this is the trick I suggest.”
1489-1490.When Kooni told like this , the very pleased Kaikeyi .
Hugged her like her own soul and after presenting her,
With great wealth and garlands with costly gems praised her by telling,
“You have given this world surrounded by the tumultuous sea,
To my son Bharata and so you have become mother of a king.
You have told a good trick . If Bharata is not crowned by gem studded crown,
And if Rama is not driven out to the dense forest ,
I would take away my soul before king Dasaratha,
And go away from this world . You can go now.”
The chapter on conspiracy of Kaikeyi
(Kaikeyi acts as if she is upset and sad and demands from the king the two boons he had promised her earlier. He agrees. Then she requests him to crown Bharata and send Rama to the forest for fourteen years. Dasaratha is shattered .He begs Kaikeyi in various ways but at the end gives her the boon. The sun rises next morning. Sumanthra as per request of sage Vasishta comes to meet Dasaratha but Kaikeyi asks him to bring Rama. When Rama comes Kaikeyi tells that Bharata should rule and he should go to the forest. He happily agres and goes back.
Mostly Kamba Ramayana agrees with Valmiki Ramayana in describing incidents of this chapter.)
1491.After Kooni left ,Kaikeyi got from the bed of flowers ,
Pulled the flower garland from her cloud like long hair,
Like pulling out the moon covered by the huge cloud of monsoon,
And threw it making the crowd of honey bees scattered.
1492.Like completely uprooting her fame which was growing like a flag post,
She pulled out and threw away her shining waist belt ,
She removed the anklets with bell from her legs also,
Like one who tries clean the dirt from the moon , she ,
Also rubbed off the thilaka from her lustrous forehead near her falling hair.
1493. Also she removed all her faultless ornaments and dashed them separately ,
Spread her long hair where musk ghee has been applied on the floor and,
Shedding tears and made the kajal from her blue flower like eyes shed,
And rolled on the bare floor like a branch where all flowers have been removed.
1494.The daughter of king Kekaya was lying exhausted like a deer which had fallen down,
Like a normally dancing peacock stopping the dance and sleeping ,
And like the elder sister of Goddess Laksmi, who has arrived there,
Thinking that The goddess Lakshmi sitting in a lotus flower would go away from Ayodhya
1495,Dasaratha who had long hands which held the wheel of rule,
Who was like a lion , after the night crossed mid night ,
Accompanied by kings who were saying “long live”,
Reached the palace of Kaikeyi who had voice which even yaazh was scared.
1496-1497.With the kings accompanying him stopping at the gate of private apartments,
Along with maids who would come running and obey all his orders,
The king of kings reached Kaikeyi who had very soft shoulders, who has got up from her bed,
And who had broad eyes which were sharper than spears,
And when he saw her carefully he thought, What great sorrow has come,
And hugged her who was like a female deer and with his long hands,
Which were like the trunk of an elephant started lifting her.
1498.That Kaikeyi who was like a soul to the king who wore scented garlands ,
Did no show any change and removed the long hands of the king,
Again fell on the ground like the fall of a shining flag,
And without telling any thing started breathing deeply.
1499.That king who was wearing a garlands seeing her action and asked,
“What happened? Any one in these seven worlds who dared,
To insult you would meet their destruction by being killed by me.
After you tell all that has happened , you see my action , tell without delay.”
1500.That Kaikeyi who heard the words of the king who was wearing a garland,
Around which the bees hummed , With tears from her long eyes falling on her chest, told,
“If the grace of your equals that of my eye ,
Give me back what you have given to me long back with great love .”
1501. Without understanding the mind of Kaikeyi from whose hair honey dropped,
Dasaratha laughed like the lightning which had very great light and told,
“I would do whatever your mind wants without leaving any shortcoming,
And I am taking an oath on the very charitable Rama who is your son.”
1502. When Dasaratha who was having great qualities made that promise ,
She who did not have any doubt about success told , “oh king,
If you want to remove the great sorrow that I have , grant me,
Those two boons that you offered to me with devas as witness.”
1503.Dasaratha who did not think and understand the words of ,
Kaikeyi , who had a mind to cheat him told her ,
“You need not have become so sad and miserable ,
For getting those boons from me, I would give them now itself ,
So that heaviness of mind leaves you now itself.”
1504. She who was more cruel than all that is termed as cruel said,
“Using one boon that you gave me , my son Bharata should rule this kingdom,
And using the other the husband of Sita should go to the forest,”
And stood there without any sorrow to her mind.
1505.When that poison left the toungue of Kaikeyi who was as cruel as the snake,
Shivering greatly not able to hold that poison , which caused that great sorrow,
And his body burning and attaining tiredness , Dasaratha fell on the floor,
Like an elephant whose great speed was destroyed by a serpent.
1506. Who can describe the sorrow of Dasaratha who fell on the floor,
And rolled on it and attained very great sorrow?
With the pain increasing and mind burning like the fire,
Raised by the blacksmith using his bellows , he let out hot breaths.
1507. His toungue became dry , the soul started leaving his body,
The mind faded , The eyes let out lots and lots of blood,
And due to increased worries the five sense organs suffered
And were wondering what can be done by them.
1508.Dasaratha who was suffering great sorrow with soul shivering,
Sat for some time on the floor , stood up and again fall down,
And like a picture his breath stopped and wanted ,
To catch hold of that sinner and dash her.
1509.That king who was like an elephant in whose terrible wound,
A spear which was thrown by a powerful hand entered ,
Was ashamed about the likely bad fame if he kills a lady,
He started wandering here and there leaving out deep breaths ,
With the great pain that was inside his mind,
And then he will stare at Kaikeyi and become again depressed.
1510.When that king who was like an elephant in rut which got tied ,
On a big staff was with pain in the mind falling down and getting up,
Devas got scared and started shivering for it looked to them,
That the time of final deluge has come but the mind of Kaikeyi,
Who had an arrow like eyes was stable and was not wavering,.
1511.She was not scared by seeing the sorrow of her husband ,
Her mind did not get mercy and neither was she ashamed,
And we are feeling greatly ashamed to describe her state .
Wise people of yore always thought that deception was a lady,
And concluded that women were ones without line of attachment.
1512.That Dasaratha who was standing like that and who was,
Having a spear on which ghee was applied , after seeing Kaikeyi,
Asked her “Have you ever been surprised? Or has some ,
Deceiver spoiled your mind, Tell me the truth with oath on me.”
1513”Oh king who has horses kept under control , I have,
Never been surprised , no deceiver has come and told anything to me,
If you grant the boons that you had promised earlier , I will receive them,
But if you do not grant them , I would die leaving the crime on you.”
1514.That king who did not have any soul except his son ,
Even before the ignorant one could complete , her words ,
Of great anger , got confused like one who was wounded,
By a great spear on the burn wound which was already there,
And fell senseless on the floor with wounded mind and with wonder.”
1515.That Dasaratha who had a sword by which he had achieved victory,
Over heavens , earth and land of serpents seeing Kaikeyi told ,
“Oh cruel lady, “ and then he would take a big breath and again say,
“Alas, this Dharma is cruel” and while saying “let the truth die ,
He would totter and then again fall on the ground ,
1516.That Dasaratha who has won over great heroes with his spear,
Became greatly angry thinking “Using my very sharp sword,
I should kill all the ladies on earth and after that,
I would also join the beings who have reached the lower worlds.”
1517. That king Dasaratha who was well known in all the worlds,
For his dedication to truth , beat one palm with another palm,
Bit his lips , would let out hot breath saying to himself ,
“Telling truth would harm me “ and then like the fire ,
In which ghee is poured , he became sad with a broken mind.
1518.The king Dasaratha who had crowded feet which was being saluted by great kings,
Who had an elephant army that breaks the staff that they were tied one after another,
Like a good king who wanted to remove the mistakes that he has committed while ruling,
Thinking that patience is better if it leads to good , Fell at the feet of Queen Kaikeyi.
1519.He said, “your son would not accept this kingship and even if he accepts,
This world would not like it and you would not attain your wish for being praised,
By all this people of the universe at any time and what is the use ,
Of getting a bad name and be berated by all the world.”
1520.”Even devas will not accept your decision , the people of earth will all die,
But what is the need to think about the reaction of others? With whom shall,
You rule this world? Rama has accepted the proposal because of my words.
Would he not as per custom give this kingship to your son also later?”
1521.”Oh lady , who is the daughter of the charitable king of Kekaya ,
Even if you wanted my eyes , I am bound to give it to you and even if,
You want my soul which is in my body , it is already under your control.
If you want that boon, please receive only the kingdom and forget the other” , he said.
1522.”I have told you by my mouth that I have given you the boons,
Now I will not change it .Please do not tell such words which would make me sad,
And which would make suffer. Like a mother giving any thing if some body begs her,
, Even a ghost with fire like eyes also would give and would it be a mistake if you grant this?”
1523.Like this that victorious king several times begged her ,
But the mind of her who was matchless in cruelty , did not melt and she said,
“Oh king , you have given these boons earlier and if you do not act on them due to anger ,
What will happen? Who would be there in this world to protect truth?”
1524.That king who never praised a “lie” but always praised the “truth”,
Hearing those words was greatly hurt , became further weakened ,
And with more patience than earlier and with shame thinking ,
“whether poisonous fire has come in the form of that lady”,
Stood some time breathless started talking further begging her.
1525.”Your son would rule and you also would sweetly rule ,
All the earth would be under your control . You would rule. I have granted this.
I would not change my words , Let my eye like son not go away from here “, he said.
1526.He further said, “My truth would uproot and destroy me and I am sad,
Thinking about my fate . My toungue has dried talking to you ,If today,
My son having lotus like hands would go away from my presence,
I would not be alive and so my soul is under your control.”
1528.Kaikeyi who was not bothered about the sweet begging words of Dasaratha ,
Whose anger had not diminished, Whose mind was like a dried wood,
Who did not have sense of shame and who was not bothered about bad name ,
Said to Dasaratha, Oh king who is capable of lifting a huge bow,
“Please tell me that your asking me to leave out a boon that you have given me,
At an early time as you have a strong mind and not following Dharma.”
1529.When that cruel lady told like this that great king said to her ,
“If Rama is not crowned and walks with harsh forest full of stones,
My soul would truly go away from me “ and fell down,
On the earth like a huge tree struck with thunder.
1530.He fell and got drowned the waters of the ocean of great sorrow ,
He further drowned and drowning he could not see the other shore of the ocean,
He faded thinking of her who caused great sorrow surrounding him,
Who was telling harsh and cruel words and who was breaking his heart with them.
1531-1535.”the ladies who wear shining bangles would merge with body
With the soul of their great husbands and would like to die earlier to him,
. They have so far got only this fame and no one has killed her husband ,
Oh lady with a cruel heart , are you killing me now.
You are not seeing my sorrow and you are not bothered of current behavior,
You never think about Dharma . You have killed “mercy” from your mind,
You have also killed my great soul by the sharp arrow of your toungue,
And you would be killed by people of earth not bothered about the sin of killing women,
Good ladies are those who do not move away from greatness and wear ,
The ornaments called shyness, innocence and fear and those ladies,
Who desire for fame leave out shyness and are not good ladies.
For they are masculine and never can be called feminine.
I who have attained victory over all the people, who have been,
Crowned as kings and all those kings who are classified as great,
Due to their strength and wisdom as well as devas in all wars,
Would attain the bad fate of facing defeat from a lady of my own home.
That Dasaratha who had shoulders like one gold mountain meeting another ,
Started thinking in various ways and became sad by telling various things,
Would get drowned in ocean of sorrow , would suffer by various types,
Of sorrow which are different from each other and would faint,
With a doubt whether he was breathing at all and his heart would break.
1536.When Dasaratha who was having a chariot with wheels made of gold ,
Became depressed and was rolling on the earth with the dust coating his pretty shoulders,
Kaikeyi who did not have mercy in her heart said., “oh king,
Who wears golden ornaments , Tell that I got it properly,
Otherwise I would take away my life.”
1537.Kaikeyi who was like the spreading raging fire which does not get put out ,
And destroys lives, said, “Oh king with a well tied bow , Did not one king,
Of your clan sacrifice his own life to protect truth ? Having given the boon,
If you are sorrowing at the present time, what use can be there?”
1539.That very strong king thinking that if we do not agree this cruel lady ,
Would die said,” I have given, given those boons and let my son rule the forest,
I would die and then rule the heaven andyou along with your son,
Would keep on swimming in the ocean of bad name not able to get out of it.”
1540.As soon as he completed saying it , with great sorrow entering his mind ,
Which was similar to the cutting in to pieces by a sword meant for killing,
Fainted , lost consciousness and forgot everything , While Kaikeyi,
Who had achieved what she wanted happily started sleeping.
1541.Having for several days lived like one soul and did lot of things together,
And after seeing her husband with strong shoulders drown in sorrow,
And not bothering about it or becoming merciful , that lady with lustrous teeth,
Was seen by the cool lady of the night and becoming shy ,
To stand before men , she vanished and the night came to an end.
1542.Those cocks which coo at the last yama of that night , seeing that Dasaratha,
Who wears bee hovering flower garlands had fainted due to that cruel Kaikeyi,
And also seen him losing his wisdom and also hearing the lamentations that he made,
Appeared to beat on their own belly by their pretty legs and crying.
1543.Elephants who were in safe places after completing their sweet sleep ,
With great love to Rama , with a shivering mind thinking that Sita with her pretty waist belt,
And Rama with a name which cannot be ever forgotten, would go to the forest,
Started from there as if announcing to the world that they would also go to forest.
1544.Before the auspicious thread was tied on hands
Which resembled the trunk of an elephant , of Rama ,
Who was Lord Vishnu with red eyes similar to lotus flower ,
The enclosure (pandal) which was built to give shade to the entire world,
And which had pearl hangings which used to spread cold ,
Was removed and like that the sky with stars vanished.
1545.To make us all know that the night during which time.
All of us are defeated and suffer due to the sugarcane bow of god of love ,
And to make us all know that the time to salute Rama who held the Kodanda bow in his hand
Has arrived huge drums made lot of sound and due to that sound ,
Which resemble thunder coming out of clouds big peacocks
Started dancing and ladies with joy woke up before their husbands.
1546.Due to the slow scented breeze which made lots of flowers open up ,
Were sad with their waist belt and cloths of hips loosen up and some maids,
Each of whom saw , a deceiving dream that they were making love To Rama ,
Were awakened by the breeze which also put a stop to their dreams.
1547. Like the flowers of red lily getting closed at morn , the mouths of good ladies were shut ,
Seeing the undesirable act of Kaikeyi who had a cruel mind , which shatters the difficult to get fame,
Which brings very bad name which would remain for a long time to come , which brings destruction,
To the fame of the very great clan and also destroy their own greatness.
1548.The sharp arrows of god of love which fills mind with passion and,
Makes the desire in the mind to burn furiously like wild fire and,
The wind which is in the sky due to their cutting their body ,
And making their souls tired as well as the mature songs ,
Entered the ears of ladies and made them suffer as if snakes have entered the ears.
1549.To the men who had hands like the clouds , that sinner night ,
Which came in between the day when Rama with a wheel is to be crowned,
Appeared to be very lengthy and they deciding that their eyes and hearts,
Are about to see the crowning ceremony ,to see which ,
All the beings in the seven worlds were doing great penance ,
Are going to lead a grand life that day woke up from their bed.
1550.Those ladies who were feigning sleep by closing their long eyes,
Which were like sharp ghee coated spears , thinking about Rama,
With a wish for seeing the prettiness of body of Rama which gives great luster ,
Got up from the beds made of best harvested great flowers ,
Which were surrounded by bees which were humming songs.
1551.Those ladies who were wearing great garlands of flower ,
With great strength of mind , who had love tiff with their husbands ,
With a fear that the gold chain will hurt their lovers when they hug them,
Wore flower garlands and at the time since the siren ending the night sounded,
The men who were sad because of the love tiff did not get a chance to get happiness.
1552.In all places the peacock hangings made pleasant sound , the bees hummed,
The movement of flower garlands made sound , the drums blared ,
The moving chariots produced sound , the ornaments of ladies ,
Whose pearl studded ropes rub with their waist produced sound ,
The birds cooed , Sting instruments made sound and the horses,
Which run faster than mind neighed like thunder.
1553.That Dasaratha who merged all the fourteen worlds with his soul,
Being one wedded to truth , due to the great affection towards his eldest son,
Became one with all the five senses have become subdued and the
Luster of the lights in the streets was dimming like his lustrous soul,
From his greatly shivering body which had divinity.
1554.Various types of pipes spread honey like musical sounds,
The sweet music where words were important filled the sky,
Great sound was produced by musical instruments called Pambai,
And with various anklets worn by ladies creating sound ,,
Their conch bangles raised suitable sounds ,
The horns made sound everywhere and the chanting of Sama veda was also being heard.
1555.With the smoke like darkness which filled everywhere jumping and running away,
And like the lamps which were inside the houses slowly fading away , due to the,
Enmical act of Kaikeyi the great soul of Dasaratha was also fading away ,
The sun rose with blood red colour in the east looking like he was very angry.
1556. The lotus flowers , which looked like the faces of ladies bloomed in groups,
AS if they wanted to see with desire , the great beauty of Rama , who was the basis,
Of Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma , who has become everything in the world,
Who broke the bow held by Shiva the God of Gods and was wearing the huge crown.
1557.When things were like this those living in the city rose ,
Like the rising of all the seven oceans at the same time and,
Thinking that it was the day of coronation of Rama,
With great desire did lot of activities and even though,
People like me they are all very much beyond thought ,
I would try to tell about them to the best of my ability.
1558.The young ladies , who steal the minds of men,
Who were proud like the elephants , would apply the red cotton juice,
Would search the best of conch bangles which are white like milk,
Would say kajal and apply it on their sword and spear like eyes,
Which would look like poison and they would decorate their hair with fresh flowers.
1559. When the tide of the joy was flowing out , among those ladies who had,
Spot less faces like a fully opened lotus flower who had drunk toddy,
And had joyful eyes which were like the kendai fishes
The saffron paste that they had applied in their chest was not getting rubbed off,
And because of this all those men who had hefty shoulders.
Became like the brothers of Lord Rama.
1560. Those old ladies of great virtue who were living in that city became possessed ,
With mother like minds of Kausalya and the young ladies in joy matched Sita,
That Sita became like Goddess Lakshmi , all the Brahmins became like sage Vasishta,
And all the old men became like that of king Dasaratha.
1561.For seeing the coronation of the husband of Sita who had cone like breasts,
Huge crowd of kings , impelled by their great desire to come , came ,
Like the crowd of devas who had come to eat nectar , making empty,
This great world which is surrounded by oceans on all sides.
1562.In the pretty streets of that great city , all places were occupied by
Crowds of ladies who had mouth which is red like coral and sweet like honey,
Who had thick breasts and who had wide hips and also crowd of men,
Who were shouting “go ahead, go ahead” but not moving themselves ,
And did not proceed ahead nor were able to go back.
1563.Some of them were saying , “number of kings is more”,
Some were saying , “number of Brahmins is more”,
Some saying “men were more” , some saying “ladies are more”,
Some saying “those who have come are more “,
Some saying “the number of people who are yet to come are more”,
But it was clear that they only knew what they thought and there were none who knew everything.
1564. With the prettiness of blue lotus , the cruelty of the spear , mixed together ,
Applying the poison called the shining Kajal along with a look of the white shining sun,
The ladies had big eyes and hip that was bending when they came,
And crowded there like a crowd of dancing peacocks.
1565.The asuras of Lanka were the only ones, who had not to come to see that Rama who wore
The scented garland of Thulasi marrying the great bride of the lady called earth,
And apart from that those who had not come were the mountains ,
Of the seven worlds and those elephants with rut ,
Standing on the eight different directions and carrying the earth.
1566.Al l those great kings who were ruling over the earth,
Who can be compared to Devendra came like crores of moons,
With royal umbrellas made of pearl held high , fanned by
White cowries which looked like the crowded swan of the skies,
Came and as per their order and entered the hall of coronation.
1567.All those great ones who had mastered the four Vedas ,
Who due to their great penance were blessing the world with good,
Came like they have come to celebrate the entry of their eldest sons,
To married life and entered the hall of coronation,
To see the great marriage of Rama with the goddess earth.
1568. The devas who had come to see the celebration filled up the sky,
Those who lived in the wide earth dressed with oceans filled the eight directions,
The auspicious booming sound of conch , the beat of the drums with wide eyes,
Filled the ears of those who came to witness the function,
And the mountain of gold that was given in charity filled up the seven oceans.
1569.The rays of light starting from the bodies of the kings ,
Hid the the luster of lamps and the light coming from,
The movement of crowns hid the light of Sun in the sky,
The light from the ornaments of ladies who were smiling,
With their white teeth resembling the pearls born in a sea,
Possibly thinking they can hide the world of devas also,
Hid both the eyes of all the devas who were there.
1570.In these circumstances Vasishta of great penance ,
Collecting all the auspicious things necessary to the coronation,
Of Rama accompanied with experts in Vedas chanting all the four Vedas,
Came to the hall of coronation , making his way through the old entrances.
1571.He then filled up the auspicious waters from River ganges to the river Kumari,
As well as the waters of the four seas in sacred pots , made arrangements ,
Of all the materials that were needed for fire sacrifice , erected the valorous throne,
In proper place and also did all that is needed for the coronation.
1572.When the experts in astrology told him that the auspicious time has come,
That Vasishta who did penance so that disease of birth cycle is removed,
And who stood by it said, “Go and bring the emperor who wears,
The jeweled crown with haste”, the loving Sumantra with bent head,
Went with great speed and love to carry out that errand.
1573.When he was not able to see Dasaratha in the palace which was touching the sky,
He made enquiries and reached the palace of Kaikeyi and informed the ,
Servant ladies with the red mouth and when they went and told it to Kaikeyi,
That one who was like god of death among ladies said, “Go and bring Rama.”
1574.Sumantra who heard that , with his joy increasing further ,
Crossed the streets with palaces of Gold with great speed ,
Entered the palace of Rama saluted him who with mountain like shoulders,
Was only thinking of him , hid his mouth with hand and started telling.
1575.”Kings , sages and all those who are on this earth are showering,
Love on you like your father Dasaratha and your step mother Kaikeyi,
Asked me to bring you to her palace and so come quickly ,
To wear that great crown which is made of gold.”
1576. As soon as Rama heard that after saluting Lord Vishnu ,
With one thousand heads , accompanied like an ocean,
By the crowd of kings singing prayers of God,
With devas in the sky blessing him with great joy ,
And with ladies making great sound and staring at him,
With great desire , Travelled in a chariot decorated by garlands.
1577.Those ladies knowing Rama is going to wear the auspicious crown,
Egged by love as well as great joy , joined together ,
And approached near him on both his sides ,
And they felt that all their sweet souls has joined together ,
And saw that their soul travelling in a matchless chariot.
1578.Due to words that make one shiver told by Kaikeyi,
Rama would be avoiding the lustrous ceremony of crowning,
And would separate himself from the pure divine lady of earth,
Rama accompanied by the songs sung by those ladies,
And entered the thick forest of the bamboos of thick shoulders ,
And which has the fatal spear of their eyes.
1579-1580.Those ladies who were throwing at Rama the scented powders ,
Flowers , sandal and gold , who were letting fall their very pretty,
Waist belt , their shyness as well as their bangles ,
Who were washing with hot water from their eyes their soft breasts ,
Which were wounded by the flower darts of god of love ,
Who were telling each other “This Rama is not suited to rule the earth”,
“How is it that he does not seem to have love towards us?” ,
And due to shivering of the mind , they were sorrowing ,
And seeing Rama with red eyes and pretty black body,
Riding on a chariot wherever their eyes look at ,
They asked ,”How many people are there who look like Rama?”
1581.All ladies were making great sound like this and crowded round Rama,
And all the sages and elder citizens of Ayodhya and young people .
After seeing the very pretty body of Rama , not able to find ,
Any limit to the love that they had for him thought ,
In their mind and told about it. WE will now start telling about that.
1582.Some said “this world has now greatly succeeded, Some said,
“You would live up to the final deluge , Some said, “Oh son ,
Please take all our allotted life span”, Some others said,
“Let the fruit of penance we did controlling five senses be yours”,
And some others said, “ Let You who wear the garland ,
Of Thulasi get the fruits of all good deed done in the world.”
1583.Some said “what was the blessed deed was done by lotus flower ,
Which resembles his eyes and what was the blessed deed done by,
The rain shedding cloud to get his colour.”How can we compensate ,
The king who did impossible penances and gave this great one to us?”
1584.“The mercy of Rama is similar to the mercy Narayana with a divine wheel,
Who rushed to save the elephant which called him, when attacked by the crocodile,”
Some said and some others said, “When we approach the lord , whom even Vedas,
Are not able to know properly and see him , tears rush to the eye,
Without any other reason except love for him.”
1585.”on one side there was fullness and great wisdom to the black cloud like Rama,
On the other side who has his great character?” some said , Some others said,
“Would this very great Lord Rama belong to clan of devas?” and without knowing ,
I asked “is he the endless God who is the root cause beyond the calculation of time .”
1586.Some said “Those who dug the ocean , those who brought Ganga to earth,
And those who went and helped the Devas and fought and won over the asuras,
Were his great ancestors who were blessed with permanent greatness, And we would live Depending on the fame brought by his great shoulders ,
Which were decorated by the garland of victory,”
1587.”Oh son, These are sandal paste , these are faultless gem garlands,
Those here are The thilaka as well as ornaments for you to wear ,
Please give charity with your hands these row of elephants with rut,
The row of victorious horses and wealth made of pure gold.” Said some.
1588.When the valorous Rama was coming in a chariot with speed of lightning,
There were none in that crowd whose mind did not melt with extreme love ,
Whose body did not become soft and whose mind did not melt ,
For they saw in him the matchless child of God coming alone with a spring.
1589.They said, “all those good natured kings who stand in the shade of white royal umbrella,
Who had a huge army and who were ruling the earth with great grace,
After the birth of Rama would start thinking , that having a son is bad ,
And would stand like a picture.perplexed and with a melting mind .”
1590.”That Rama who was wearing the sacred thread on his chest was like,
A wandering streak of lightning and would he pass the gates of our home,
With great speed ? To prevent him from doing that along with,
Huge mountain like gold fill the big street with limitless gems.”
Some who were saying like this started pouring gold and gems on the street.
1591.Some of them said “He was not brought up by his mother and ,
By the great penance that she did the daughter of Kekaya king brought him up.
If this is the nature of the happiness of Kaikeyi who is charitable ,
We cannot say anything about the great joy that she must be feeling.”
1592. Some said, “If he rules the great sorrow as well as sins ,
Would be completely uprooted and now this earth not only,
Belongs to Rama but to all of us . This Rama would destroy,
The Asuras who are the enemies of Devas and ,
What a great penance have the kings done to serve under him?”
1593.When the citizens of the town were talking like this ,
The victorious hero Rama travelling in a chariot,
On which matchless gems had been tied and ,
Which is pulled by the horses travelled through,
The row of tall houses with flags and reached ,
The palace of Dasaratha who wore fame as ornament.
1594.When Rama reached there did not see cowries were being swung all around and
The ladies who had decorated their hair with flowers were dancing with new joy and great love ,
And also did not see Dasaratha wearing a great crown , sitting on the throne with joy.
1595.Rama who appears in the mind of wise people who have learnt ,
All Vedas and all great books of the world did not enter with sweetness ,
In that king’s golden hall where the kings together with the sages ,
With great joy were singing the real praise ,
But entered in to the palace of his step mother Kaikeyi.
1596.The kings and sages and all others seeing Rama who entered ,
The palace of Kaikeyi thought that “Rama has only done proper thing.
It is great for him to salute the lotus like feet of his father first,
And wear the crown which was earlier worn by all kings ,
Starting from Sun God with red rays , which appears above everything.”
1597. When things were going on like this , Kaikeyi seeing Rama searching and coming ,
Towards the pure Dasaratha , after getting depressed and then became all right,
Thinking ,”My lord will not tell this with his mouth and so I will tell it myself,”,
And stood like a god of death , before Rama who was thinking that she is his mother.
1598.Rama who was like a calf which has seen its mother cow which returned in the evening,
Saluted by falling on the ground with his forehead touching the earth Kaikeyi who came there,
And then slightly closing his coral red mouth which was scented like saffron with his red palm,
Using his right hand and folding his cloth using his pretty left hand stood in salutation.
1599.Kaikeyi who had a mind of steel and who was as cruel as God of death who destroys,
Said, “Son, There is something that your father wants to tell you, and if you think,
It is proper for me to tell you that , I would tell you that .”
1600.”If my father orders me some thing and if you are agreeable to tell that,
I have become blessed and there would be no one born in this world,
Who are greater than me. I think the fruit of my penance has already come.
Is there any greater fortune than that? You are my father as well as mother,
Please order me and I would obey it with all my mind.”
1601.”With the entire earth surrounded by the sea ruled by Bharata,
Carrying on two sides by matted hair , do the greatest penance possible ,
Reach the cruel forest which is dusty , take bath in all sacred waters ,
And come back here after fourteen long years.”
1602.”After seeing the beauty of the , face of Rama , who has good characters,
Which are beyond description , It is not possible for people like me to describe it.
That face was like lotus before and after hearing the words of Kaikeyi,
And even after undersatanding the import of those words , It won over lotus flower.
1603.Rama who was at that time scared of disobeying the orders ,
Of his clear minded father had agreed to the great sorrow,
The painful job of ruling the earth and like the black bull ,
Which was tied to the cart and was being driven by its owner,
Was set free by one merciful person , he felt free of those ties.
1604.” Would I disobey your commands feeling it is not the king’s command,
Is not the great fortune of my brother Bharata , my own fortune?
Is there a better luck than that ?. I have taken this command on my head,
And I would immediately go to the forest which shines ,
With sun light like lightning and I am taking leave from you.”
1605.That Rama who had shoulders which were even better than the mountains,
After telling this took leave , and after saluting the direction of the feet of Kaikeyi,
Making Goddess Lakshmi sitting on lotus flower and mother earth cry ,
Left that place and reached the palace of mother Kausalya.
Chapter on going away from city.
(Rama goes and informs Kausalya who wants to accompany hi. Rama persuades her not to come so that she can look after Dasaratha. Kausalya goes to Kaikeyi’s palace and sees the pitiable condition of Dasaratha. Vasishta tries to dissuade Kaikeyi from her determination and is not able to it. He tells Dasaratha he would persuade Rama not to go. Meanwhile Lakshmana gets very angry and wants to wear a war on his father. Rama pacifies him. They both go to meet Sumithra. She becomes sad and tells Lakshmana to go with Rama and not return , if Rama does not return. The servants of Kaikeyi bring wooden bark to Rama to wears. He and Lakshmana wear it .Vasishta meets them there but is not able to change mind of Rama. Rama and Lakshmana go and meet Sita. She compels them to take her also with them .They reluctantly agree . Meanwhile Dasaratha tells the story of the curse that he got from sage parents of a boy whom he killed unknowingly. The entire Ayodhya including sixty thousand wives of Dasaratha cry and decide to go to the forest along with Rama.
Though the events are similar the sequence of events are different in Valmiki Ramayana. Kaikeyi tells Rama he has to go on the same day which is not there Kamba Ramayana. Vasishta does not try to dissuade Rama there. Sumantra chastises Kaikeyi there,. Instead of 60000 queens , in Valmiki Ramayana there are only 350. The bark dress is sent through servants here but given in front of Dasaratha by Kaikeyi,. When he gives one to Sita , Dasaratha as well as sage Vasishta shout at her, In fact Dasaratha sents dress for 14 years to Sita.
The sorrow felt by all described by Kambar is so heart touching. Several places tears welled in my eyes.)
1606.That Rama who was looking like a mountain covered by cloud ,
Went in front of her whose mind was full of joy,
And who was expecting him to come back wearing a crown,
But saw him coming back with out cowries being rotated on both his sides and ,
Without the white royal umbrella and
Was being dragged by his fate which was marching ahead of him,
And who was followed by the God of Dharma , alone.
1607.”He was not wearing the crown and he was not made wet by sacred waters,
What could be the reason?” doubted Kausalya and when Rama who was,
Wearing golden heroic anklets saluted her lotus like feet , with a melting mind,
She blessed him and asked him, “What happened to the decision?
Is there any problem for you to wear that great crown?”
1608.As soon as Kausalya asked that , Rama saluted her with folded hands,
“Your loving son and my brother Bharata , who is of faultless character,
Is going to wear that very pure crown” he said.
1609.Kausalya who never differentiated in her love to the four brothers,
And loved them in a faultless way said, “There is a fault in that ,
Because the elder son should become king first but he is,
Three times more full of good characters than you ,
He is more good than you. And he does not have any faults.”
1610.After saying that she further told “oh son ,
It is only proper that the orders of the emperor are implemented,
Without any change because not doing it is injustice and ,
That is your dharma and so give the earth ,
To your brother Bharata and live united with him.”
1611.When Rama who has the nature of becoming happy
Had pure thoughts and a faultless mind , heard the words of his mother ,
Looked at her and told , “there is an order from the emperor,
To make me walk in the path of good , also.”
1612.And when Kausalya asked him, “what is the nature of that order?”
He said, “He wanted me to go the broad forest for a period,
Of fourteen years and live there with sages of great penance ,
And he wanted me to come back only after that.”
1613.Even before those fire like words reached ,
Her ears decorated by hanging ear globes .
Kausalya Started worrying , became feeble , was surprised ,
Became depressed , moaned and fell down.
1614.”oh son, are the words that “You protect this earth which you will rule”,
Is act of cheating and this is as cruel as poison , Would I be able to live now ,
And my soul would continue to be scared always.”
1615,She crushed one palm with the other , Using her tender hands,
Wearing bangles she would grind her belly , Where Rama lived,
Would control her hot breath which gives out smoke and underwent great suffering .
1616.She would laugh saying, “the mercy shown by the emperor on you is great”,
Seeing Rama and saying , “when will you travel in the long forest path” and then get up,
And she went on suffering the pain of death at that very instant.
1617.”What mistake did you commit towards the emperor,
Who had very great love towards you ?” saying this ,
She became like the people suffering due to great poverty,
Due to mistakes committed in their last birth , getting hold of Gold,
And wailing greatly after losing it again.’
1618.She would say, “Why is it that , Dharma is not helping me?” and then say,
“Oh Gods , what is the reason of this which would make me die after losing the soul,
What can be further told about her? , she was struggling due to great sorrow,
Like a lactating cow losing its feeding calf.
1619.Rama seeing his mother who was wailing and greatly suffering,
Lifted her with his hand and told her “Oh lady of very great virtue,
Would you make our emperor who tells nothing but the truth,
Tell a lie by going against the words that he has already told .”
1620.For consoling Kausalya who had great virtue and is the model,
For the earth regarding virtue, Rama started telling her,
Very pretty , very truthful words, which could be told to his mother.
1621.”For making my great younger brother get the wealth of kingdom,,
And making my father not tell a lie even if he loses memory,
I am blessed with a life in a forest and return back from there,
And I think there is nothing better that I can do , by being born in earth.”
1622”.Even if the sky , the earth , the oceans and ,
All other five elements of the earth are destroyed,
Can I disobey the orders of Dasaratha. So do not worry.”
1623.Than Kausalya told, “ofh Rama , if it is so ,
I am not telling you not to go to the forest ,
As it is the order of the king and if you are going,
Take me also , who is unable to carry this soul without dying.”
1624. He replied “Oh mother , without consoling the emperor,
Who has drowned in the ocean of sorrow , is it proper,
For you to make up your mind to accompany me to the forest.
Possibly you did not think properly about Dharma of a wife.”
1625.”After my brother who holds the huge bow ,
Becomes the king and after he firmly establishes himself,
When the king decides to leave this life of luxury ,
And decides to do penance , You can do penance with him.”
1626.”Oh Mother , why is your mind tottering and confused?
Do you not know that even devas have risen after doing penance?
After all how many more years are there? Does not those,
Fourteen years look like fourteen days to you?”
1627.”Earlier we got by the grace of sage Viswamithra,
Several Mantras and later we got the blessing of marriage .
Were they wrong? By going to the forest and ,
Doing all jobs as per their order , has been good , even today.”
1628.”Please see me doing great service to great sages,
Get great knowledge and unmatched wisdom from them,
Which are all faultless , get the affection of Devas ,
And return to this city safely.”
1629.He continued “Do you not know that matchless fame earned,
BY sons of Sagara who dug this earth surrounded ,
By the ocean infested by sharks , for carrying out ,
The order of their father and sacrificing their souls.”
1630.”The Parasurama who held the axe , a weapon of Shiva ,
Who held a baby deer in his hands did not disobey his father,
But as per his orders killed his own mother and is it ,
Proper for me not to obey the orders of my father?”
1631.That Kausalya who wore the ornaments of truth,
After hearing the several such words of consolation of Rama,
Took them in to her mind and understood clearly that,
Rama would definitely go to the forest.
1632.She thought , Let this earth belong to Bharata,
And let Rama go from the city and do penance ,
In the great forest. But I as per my duty ,
Would salute the king and protect him” and started to go to his palace.
1633.After saluting her who was going and thinking that,
She was capable of looking after the body of Dasaratha ,
And capable of consoling him in the very great sorrow,
Rama reached the cloud like palace of his step mother Sumithra.
1634. Kauslya who walked to the place of Dasaratha ,
Reached the palace of the daughter of the Kekaya king ,
And fell on the earth where the king had fallen ,
Like a body falling when the soul gets broken up.
1635.She said, “What is the reason for this parting from those who do not part,
“Oh great one, is it proper for you?” “Is our present position just?’
“What is the reason you are not thinking about it?”
“Of wealth of the poor” , “Oh strength to the lonely me”,
“Has is been thought about or is it fate?. “Oh king , oh king.”
1636.”Oh king of kings You who ruled the entire earth , with the wheel of rule.
Which was equal to the Sun who removes the darkness everywhere ,
And after matchlessly looking after the kingdom without any problems,
Was it your intention to destroy it at the period of final deluge ,
In planning to do this act of yours through your grace.”
1637”.Oh result of penance done by the earth surrounded by ocean with waves,
Oh wealth which was greater than all wealth, Oh ocean of art of learning,
Oh true meaning of the just Vedas , Oh temple of mercy,
Oh king who possessed all the three worlds , Is it proper .
For you to lie like this , without asking me who is tired
Due to sorrowing mind, “Why are you crying? “
1638.”oh son Rama your father is lying affected by great sickness,
Which prevents him from thinking as well as knowing his present state ,
And his body which normally shines like lightning is lying motionless ,
And he is not able see me whois crying and asking, “Why are you crying?”
I am not able to make out the reason for this behavior of his,
So please come to see the present state of the king”, she told.
1639-1640.When this wailing and sound of crying reached the hall ,
Where the kings have assembled , the lustrous sages and,
The kings holding the sword said among themselves “this is not proper, not proper”,
And looking at sage Vasishta asked him to find out the cause of this loud crying,
That sage arrived at palace of Kaikeyi and seeing the state of Dasaratha,
Who had a huge sword , and wanting to know the reason for it and thinking in his mind
“King Dasaratha is not dead and it is not true that he will never die,
But now he has lost his consciousness and further thought that,
“Kaikeyi the daughter of great king of Kekaya is without any sorrow ,
But this Kausalya is crying non stop and it is extremely difficult ,
To understand about the various reactions of individuals to same circumstance.”
1641.After thinking like this Vasishta, thought that Kausalya who was crying,
Due to sorrow would not be able to tell the reason for her sorrow
Seeing Kaikeyi who came and saluted him he asked her,
“Mother ,Please tell me the cause for the present state of Dasaratha “
And then she told him all the things which happened due to her.
1642. As soon as she told , Vasishta lifted ,
That king with lustrous sword by his lotus like hand,
From the floor which was full of dust and said to him,
“Oh learned king , do not get depressed for ,
The self same Kaikeyi herself would give kingship to Rama,
Stop being sad and put an end to it.”
Like this Vasishta told Dasaratha several times.
1643.After this he added the cool attar , sprinkled it on,
A big fan with a large handle and fanned with sufficient speed ,
So that he regains his consciousness and told him sweet words,
And when the ocean of poison of boon to Kaikeyi slightly subsided ,
He saw the soul of Dasaratha who went on repeating the name of Rama.
1644.When he saw that Dasaratha was waking up from his faint ,
He said, “Sir , now you please remove the great sorrow from yourself.
The leader of men Rama only will rule this country and there are,
No problems for that and Kaikeyi who asked this dishonourable boon ,
Would herself give back the kingdom to Rama and if Rama,
Who is like a huge cloud does not accept the kingdom, “What for are we all living?”
1645.Dasaratha loking at the sage who tried to console him told,
“ Of king of teachers , Before , I who had a very cruel fate ,
Which cannot be properly estimated , die , make Rama ,
Wear the crown and make him decide not to go the forest,
And save me by not getting the bad fame for not keeping up my word.”
1646. That sage Vasishta seeing the face of the Kaikeyi of very cruel deed said,
“Oh gold like lady , by giving kingship to Rama , soul to all other beings,
And life to your husband who was born in the clan of Manu ,
Wear the pure fame devoid of bad name as ornament.”
1647.As soon as sage Vasishta who had won over the very strong fate ,
And became great by doing great penance told like this ,
Kaikeyi sobbed and wept and told , Suppose the emperor goes back on his word,
I would not like to live in this great earth and for the sake of my word,
Not becoming a lie , I would die today itself.”
1648.The sage told Kaikeyi that her husband may die ,
That the world would not accept her idea , that she will get bad name ,
That she would be committing a sin but she did not change your decision,
That she would not understand him and that there was no use by his telling all these,
And finally told her, “ What you are contemplating is not as per tradition.”
1649.”What are you telling without understanding that the king is dying,
And without understanding the suffering he undergoes when the soul tries to go away from the body.
You are talking as if the fire and poison is entering his wound in spite of being a lady.
Oh cruel lady , what relation have you got with this country and also,
The bad name that is going to come to you is very huge.”
1650.”Oh lady , who is the cruel fire that burns fame as well as name,
Even before Dasaratha himself told Rama, “go to the forest”,
You only told it and that Rama would not stop going ,
In to the cruel path of the very tall forest.
Are there people who are as cruel as you and is there a worse cruel deed.” He said.
1651.When that faultless sage told like this ,the king who was depressed by sorrow,
Looking at Kaikeyi who had poison on her toungue said, “Oh great sinner ,
Did you order Rama who is like my soul to go to the forest and has he gone?”
1652.”Oh sinner , I now know your intentions , I with great love,
Kept on eating the fruit of love from your mouth and so ,
You have already eaten completely my soul.
I did not marry you with fire as the witness but ,
Separately chose a god of death and married her.”
1653.Oh lady who did the cruel conspiracy of sending my Rama ,
Who is the only one my open eyes has ever seen , to the cruel forest,
Oh lady who breaks me who is not ashamed of bad name which is coming,
Oh sinner without redemption , What is the use of talking now ,
The auspicious thread which I tied on your neck on day of marriage,
Would now become the auspicious thread that would be tied on Bharata’s hand.
1654.After telling so many words like this Dasaratha looking at Kaikeyi,
Whose mind did not melt told “Oh sage , I am telling you today.
From now on she is not my wife and I would also not consider Bharata ,
Who is going to crown himself as king as my son and he,
Would not be eligible to do death rites to me after my death.”
1655. Looking at the great Kausalya, he asked” did not that Rama ,
Who was prevented from seeing me , take leave from you also?”
And she seeing the great sorrow of Dasaratha at the parting ,
Of his eye like Rama from him , decided not to tell ,
Dasaratha about preventing Rama from going ,
And like the depressed Dasaratha , she also became depressed.
1656.Kausalya understanding that it is the act of her co-wife ,
And her husband after giving boons to Kaikeyi and ,
Becoming heartbroken due to it , she became greatly depressed,
And went on making efforts to revive her husband and ,
Within herself she said, “my son will roam in the forest “,
And she also became sad that Dasaratha would get ,
The bad fame that he erred in his attachment to truth.
1657.She said, “oh great one , if your greatness is harmed ,
By going against your great decision taken ,
after accepting the oath that cannot be gone against,
And standing firmly that you should not waver from it
Due to the love for your son which is beyond estimation,
The world would not accept it “ and like him, she also became feebled.
1658.She said about her son, “he would not stop from going” and after saying,
About her husband “”he would not stop from dying” and tottered and became depressed,
She would not say to her son , “protect the soul of your father “ thinking that,
It would bring bad fame to the name of her husband ,
And thus the swan like Kausalya greatly sorrowed.
1659.That king who wears the garland with bunches of flowers,
Understanding from the words of Kausalya that great and famous Rama,
Would not rule the earth and would go to the forest , became further sad,
And said, “Oh my friend , Oh friend who is my bad fate and then again said,
“Oh my son, please come before me .”
1660.”oh son ,with my eyes becoming watery and with soul trying to go out,
I am in the process of dying and to me who has only bad Karma,
Let the Brahmins who are expert in Vedas should use the sacred waters,
Collected for anointing you and crowning you before the fire,
And use it instead for my final death ceremonies and after that ,
You can go and reach the great forest.”
1661 . “Oh valorous one who defeated by your ability in using the bow,
That Parasurama who using his sharpened axe , which killed several times,
Great kings who possessed very great army and who is the one,
Who is one equal to himself in strength ., Alas ,
I told you to wear the great crown but gave you a huge ball of matted hair.”
1662.”Oh Rama , who has a black body who has mind , eyes and hands ,
In very proper shape , who wears patience as his ornament ,
Who broke the bow of Shiva who burnt the three cities ,
Without thinking that I am lonely and alone , you hated me at this old age ,
And Ido not want to live any further”, he said.
1663.”Oh Gold who outshines real gold, oh fame of fame ,
Oh Lad who has a strong bow which is like lustrous lightning ,
Oh truth of truth , I am not so weak so as to allow you,
To go to the forest before me. I would reach the heavens before that.”
1664.”I am one whose mind is ready to melt and a body that is ready to die,
And I do not have a very strong mind and strong body like that of yours,
With the eyes which saw you enter the city along with the daughter of Janaka,
Who is suitable to you , I would not like to see you going away from the city.”
1665.Oh Rama though the world has the strength to go away from you,
Though the devas would not be sorrowing , Oh king who rides a golden chariot,
Oh my support less fame , giving birth to you, I know about your greatness ,
What further can I tell, I will not live further, I will not live.”
1666.”Your nature of giving charity , made you give this Kosala country,
Surrounded by slushy mud and filled with water and the hill of non diminishing wealth ,
And also all other things to the thieving Kaikeyi and gave you great fame ,
And that same quality will now put an end to my life.”
1667.”Oh gold like lad , Are there any one similar to you in this earth ,
Which is surrounded by the booming sea or the heavens which are high above ,
Or in the world of serpents , for when He who had axe as a weapon ,
Came asking , “who is there who are strong?” , you stood there without weakening ,
Are there any one in this world to say to you “Do not do like that.”
1668.”Oh son , even after hearing that you have gone to the forest ,
If I am still alive , to say I am cruel , I should not reach ,
The heavens today itself ,for it would not be proper for you,
To live in the forest and my living here in the city seeing this Kaikeyi.
1669.”Oh sir, Goddess Lakshmi who after doing very great penance ,
Reached your broad chest with great difficulty and the goddess mother earth,
Would not remain alive , if you go the forest and I who am a sinner,
And one with bad karma , if I live after parting from you , I would be same as Kaikeyi.
1670.”Instead of seeing you wearing very great ornaments , sitting on a golden throne ,
Surrounded by white royal umbrellas , blessed with a very broad chest and ,
With goddess Lakshmi sitting there , If I see you wearing the poor looking wooden bark ,
And skin of the deer I would prefer the great act of going to heaven instead of that.”
1671.Like this when the king was wailing telling several things ,
Which did not have any connection , reached a stage , where it looked like,
His soul would go away that day itself and then that sage ,
Who covered himself with a thin skin said , “oh king ,
I would try to stop Rama from going to forest ,
Along with the help of all the people of this world.”
1672. As soon as the sage told, “I will prevent Rama from going to forest,”
Dasaratha thought perhaps he can stop him going ,
Slightly consoled his soul which was crying alone , making soul to last longer ,
And thought “If this pure one goes and tells him, he may desist from going”,
That king who was similar to human form of Manu, lost consciousness.
1673.Seeing that “the king has forgotten both his soul and mind “,
Kausalya getting sorrowed thinking that the king is dead,
And wailed, “my son left me even before and now you have also left,
Oh my husband , Oh Lord , Oh king of kings, Is this dharma.”
1674.”Oh truth of truth , Oh king of all kings of the world,
Without protecting you from losing your soul , if we fade ,
The entire world will rotate due to sorrow . Oh king,
Our son may return along with the sage , so do not lose hope” she said.
1675.After she told like this , she caressed the body, feet and face ,
With her lotus like hand and seeing her , Dasaratha who had fainted,
And was not knowing anything slowly asked her ,
“Would Rama holding the huge great bow come back, come back.”
1676.”Though the very deceiving Kaikeyi tried to take away my life by her words,
Due to the bad advice of Kooni she wanted to get kingship to her great son Bharata,
Apart from that she wanted my great son Rama to go to forest” , he said.
1677.”Oh Kausalya , Rama who wears golden armlet over his shoulders,
Would not leave the idea of going to the forest and my great soul,
Will not stay here without going . Please hear this , I have a had a curse,
From one great sage which was given long ago” and then the king,
Started telling Kausalya all that happened at that time.
1678.”I who was very much interested in hunting once went inside a cruel forest ,
And when I was searching for a pretty elephants and lions , I reached ,
A shore of a stream where the black elephants come to drink water ,
Along with my bow and arrow and stood hiding near its banks.
1679.”At that place there was a great sage with his wife ,
With both have them having lost their eyesight ,they,
Were living there with the help of their pretty son and,
When they were all engaged in penance .And not knowing that the son,
Had come to take water for them from the stream , I shot a great arrow,
Which can kill and being shot when the son fell on mud he shouted .”
1680.”Thinking that it was elephant which had entered stream which was drinking water,
And which was fighting , that arrow went along the way of the sound and I ,
Who was not able to see it , hearing that sound knew that it was not ,
The voice of an elephant but that of human being , with great sorrow reached that ghat.”
1681.Seeing that son of the sage rolling on earth with the arrow shot by me ,
With the pot rolling away and made my body and bow as useless ,
I fell down on him and cried “Oh sir , oh sir , Who are you? And ,
When I became depressed , That son who did not how to tell a lie ,said, “Please hear.”
1682.”Oh sir, who has two shoulders resembling mountains, I came here ,
To collect water for drinking for my blind father and mother,
That job has now been spoiled, You shot arrow by mistake thinking I am an elephant ,
This is my Karma and so leave out all your worries and sorrow.”
1683.”You , who are matchless please take cold water and give it to my father ,
Who desires to drink water and is sorrowing and then you inform them about my death,
And say, “your son would go to the heavens and he saluted you before his death “
And after telling this He who had praiseworthy good qualities , received by devas, went to heaven.”
1684.”When I reached the great sage , who was awaiting the arrival of his son,
And gave the cold water to him They said , “Oh son because you did not come back,
For a long time we were worried thinking about what happened to you. Oh son,
Who has shoulders with a scent of sandal , come near as we want to hug you.”
1685. “Oh sir , I am a king who is living in the city of Ayodhya and I was searching ,
For an elephant of dark black colour and in the darkness , when your son,
Who was very truthful was collecting water in a pot , without seeing him,
The arrow that was with me went aiming at him.”
1686.”Hearing the wailing sound after he was hit by the arrow ,
Realizing it was not the sound of the elephant , I ran and met your son,
And when I asked him who he was after telling him all the happenings ,
With a greatly depressed mind, he informed his,
Salutations to you both and stopped talking and ,
He was received by the devas and reached the heavens.”
1687.”Oh sir , do not get angry with me saying I killed your son with my arrow.
When your very pure son was collecting water , except for shooting an arrow.
Aimed at that sound thinking that it is an elephant , I did not see him by my eyes.
Please pardon this mistake of mine “Saying this I saluted the divine feet of that sage.
1688.As soon as they heard that, they fell down became depressed and rolled,
And said, “Today we have lost our eye” and both of them got drowned in ocean of sorrow.
Thinking about their son they cried “Son , son” and said “you have broken our heart,
We would not stay in this world after knowing that you are living in the heavens ,
We are coming now itself, now itself” they wailed and cried.
1689. Seeing those sages wailing like this in various ways , I saluted their divine feet,
And when I said , “I am your son from now on and what ever you want , I would do it for you ,
So do not become weak like this and Get rid of the sorrow “, That sage told me,
“Oh sir with a huge bow , please hear what I have to say.”
1690.”Even after losing a son who was like the eyeballs within our eyes ,
If due to the love of life , if we live on this earth for the sake of eating food,
What will not people of this world tell about us? So we will also die and go to heaven.
Oh king with a decorated horse , like us , your son ,
Would go away from you and then only you will reach the heaven.”
1691.”Oh king who has a white royal umbrella whose luster never fades ,
You said that you have done a mistake and requested for our protection,
And due to your seeking protection from us , we have not given you a more harsher curse.
Today we have parted with our good son who understood us without our ordering,
And like us you would also attain very great sorrow and reach the broad skies”
Saying this they both departed from earth and went to heaven.
1692. “Without any mental depression since they said , “I would have a sweet son”,
I came back to this city with great joy and due to the words of that sage ,
Without any change , Rama would go to the forest and I would lose my soul.”
1693.Vasishata who was as tall as a mountain among great sages with fame,
Went to the durbar hall of the king who had rut elephants with pearl chain,
Where drums were being played and where Kings were sitting with joy ,
Since the time for coronation of Rama was nearing.
1694.When those kings having sword saw the face of that sage,
They asked ”Oh clear minded one who is like our father ,
Has some problem arisen for the conduct of the crowning of Rama,
Because we are able to hear endless sound of crying with sorrow ,
Please tell us the reason for that”.
1695.”Kaikeyi who is daughter of king of Kekaya , got two boons from Dasaratha,
And Dasaratha who had ruled continuously without stop granted those boons to her,
Using one she made him agree to send Rama who was like a black cloud to forest,
Except for this there is no major sorrow . This is what , that has happened.”
1696.”Due to the order of the king , the true son of Kaikeyi would get,
The right of protecting this earth , which is carried on its head by Adhisesha ,
And Rama with a high and wide shoulders who is the husband of the divine lady,
Would go and live in the forest alone.”
1697. Even before those words from sage Vasishta who is the home of truth,
Reached their ears , all those kings who had very great love for Rama,
As well as Brahmins and all others who have assembled at that place ,
And also all the ladies who had tied their breasts with cloth fell down like Dasaratha.
1698.The bodies of people suffered like the fire touching the wound ,
Which resulted in hot breath and made them sit on earth with a shivering soul ,
And roll , and the hot tears that flowed from their eyes turned in to an ocean,
And the sound of loud crying that rose from all sides, reached the sky.
1699.The great ornaments and mangala suthra of ladies fell down,
Their tied hair fell to their sides, the Yama like eyes turned red,
Their feet became red and due to torrential wind blowing ,
They who were like climbing flower plants, shivered and fell down on earth.
1700.Alas , alas that king whose pain never gets cured is one without mercy,
And they said, “now we will also stop following Dharma ,
And they fell down like a mara mara felled by great wind ,
On the earth and wept as well as cried.
1701. By hearing the words that Rama would go to the forest,
The parrots and Naganavai birds started crying ,
The pet Cats inside those great mansions also cried,
The small babies who could not recognize forms also cried,
And what can we tell about how the big people crying?
1702.The young ladies who talk with sweet lisp which are not connected to the toungue,
From their red mouth resembling the red lily flowers showing their teeth,
Which resemble the white jasmine flower buds, shed tears like rain on their twin breasts,
And the drops resembled the peals of a cut chain falling one by one and cried.
1703. Similar to the king Dasaratha , the cows cried , their calves cried,
The flowers which have opened that same day cried, the water birds cried,
The gardens that drip honey cried, elephants cried,
And the war horses which move with speed of wind also cried.
1704.Are there more cruel people in this world than Kaikeyi ,
Who told her husband, “send him to the forest” and the very cruel Kooni,
When even the people who attained eternal wisdom thought ,
That Dasaratha would not live if Rama goes away to the forest?
And all others except these two lost their body and attained emptiness.
1705.Would it be possible to count those who were not able to wake up ,
From the sorrow and have lost their wisdom and all the streets,
Which were filled with dust due to the running of chariots,
Were made wet by the tears of such people and ,
The only thing we could not see was that their mind did not break in to pieces.
1706.Some people said that “It is due to the sin committed by the earth”,
Some other said that “The sin committed by Goddess who sits on lotus is much more”,
Some seeing the wounded heart said , “this has happened due to fate”,
And some said, “The sin committed by the eyes of people of earth is more than the ocean.”
1707.Some said, “Bharata would not accept the kingship ‘
Some said, “Rama now will not return to the country”,
Some said ,”our fate is very cruel “ and some of them said,
“The victorious crown has come like an evil planet “ and,
“Who are there in this world who are more cruel than us as we are not dying.”
1708.Some said, “possibly our first king due to his intense love ,
On the daughter of Kekaya has lost his wisdom completely”,
Some said, “Let us go to forest along with husband of Sita “,
And said, “if it is not possible , let us fall in fire and then die”.
1709.The people of that great city wiped the floor with their hands ,
And washed it with their tears and saying “Kausalya will not be able to live”,
Continuously left hot long breath and further they said,
“Oh Lakshmana would you bear with this and reached the state ,
Of those falling in the burning fire where ghee is poured.”
1710.After telling, “Lke the courtesan with red mouth who keep on drinking toddy,
This Kaikeyi without any other reason , due to the desire ,
Of making her son as the king , Was ready to do the sinful deed ,
Which is berated by all “ they with a sorrowing mind told,
“This Kaikeyi does not have any love towards the king.”
1711.”Did the emperor want to do penance and go away from this earth ,
Or did he want to completely destroy all the people in this world ,
Good, The act of boon giving by Dasaratha seems to be good.”
1712. “After giving all this earth which he got to Kaikeyi,
And let us not go away from Rama who was born as an elder son,
And made all the world as his and live in this city but ,
Let us go and live with him , and if we all do so,
Even that forest to which he goes would become a city.”
1713.”What is this type of nature of the king of kings ?
After promising the earth to Rama who was not equal to him earlier.
And going in Kakeyi’s apartment and promising it to Bharata ,
Is this not the change of his word and is it proper.”
1714.”The lady earth which was given to Rama who holds,
The bow decorated by garland of victory in the great hall,
Would be enjoyed by some one else and then, even if ,
Sita goes to the forest and even if Goddess Lakshmi stays here,
Would she accept the son of the deceiving Kaikeyi ?”
1715”Like the perennial lamp whose wick is not extended ,
And which is not helped by adding ghee , and which has ,
A flame which wavers due to wind , the lasses said,
“Are we going to part with the proper graceful ,
Sight from the lotus like eye of Rama , Oh fate” and shivered.
1716.Lakshmana hearing that , “ His step mother Kaikeyi , who has eyes,
Which are like a spear which has not been sharpened , got back,
The lustrous earth by a boon and gave my elder brother the forest”,
Rose in very great anger and fury like the fire at deluge not lit by any one.
1717.With fire emanating from the tip and sparks hitting and burning .
The lock of hair falling on forehead and looking like the burning sun in the sky,
With the drops of sweat spreading all over his body , with the big tortured breath coming out,
Lakshmana was seething and resembled his old form of Adhi Sesha.
1718.”Did she wish to feed the sweet flesh meant for cub of lion ,
To the pup of the cruel eyed dog , That lady seems to have powerful brain”
Saying this Lakshmana clapped his anklet clad hands and laughed loudly.
1719-1720 . With his sword tied on the cloth over his waist so that it could be seen,
Carrying his bow with the huge quiver of his tied on his back,
Wearing an armour made of Gold covering his huge shoulders ,
Which make people say that Mount Meru is an anthill and also covering his chest,
Wearing the golden anklet on his legs whose sound was shaming the sea,
With the sound produced by the string when he was twanging it ,
Which was three times louder than the thunder
Which occurs at the end of the world , after drinking all the seven sea, he came
1721. With all the beings with body and soul in the world,
Except he himself and his elder brother getting scared and moving out,
Thinking that the numerous elements which are spread from earth to sky
Are falling down on the earth , he came.
1722.”For making the burden of the earth lady , lighter, to kill all those ,
Who come to fight with me and cut their bodies in to pieces and fill up,
The entire world and to make my unquestionable leader Rama ,
Wear the victorious crown , I am standing here ,
People who want to prevent this , can do so.” He said.
1723. “Even if all the people of heaven and earth, Vidhyadaras , Nagas,
And people of all important countries and apart from them ,
The trinity of Gods who look after the earth , create the earth and
Destroy the earth came for help of the lady , I would not accept” , he said.
1724-1726.When the younger son of the emperor showing the very great heat ,
Like the early morning sun which has come to the centre of the sky,
And was rotating like the Mandhara mountain with properly laid peaks ,
Which rotated in the sea like the churner , in the middle of Ayodhya ,
Rama who was with Sumithra who was upset and sorrowing ,
Without getting consoled due to the very sorrowful act ,
Of that cruel Kaikeyi who had undergone a cruel change ,
Hearing the thunder like twang of the storm like bow of his very able brother ,
Who was his help, which made the entire world break in to pieces
Rama came wearing shining ornaments made of pretty gold ,
Wearing a pearl necklace over his chest,
Like a very black cloud which using the matchless rain drop of words ,
Which can put out the burning fire burning upwards with smoke rising from it.
1727 Looking at Lakshmana who was shining with great anger like lightning,
Who had a golden body , who had big hands which can give like the storm,
He said, “My lord , how is it that you who never get angry against the devas ,
Have got readied your self for a war and are holding a bow?”
1728. “I wanted to make you wear the crown before Kaikeyi .
Who has a very black mind , as she was trying to destroy the truth,
And has removed , your great rightful kingship , and even if the devas,
Try to prevent it I would like to burn them like the fire that burns the cotton .”
1729.”When this very powerful bow is in my hand , even the devas dare not prevent me,
And if they try to prevent ,I would make them the aim of the bows in my hand and burn them all,
And I would give you all the seven worlds as well as position of king of kings. Please accept.”
1730.When the younger brother told this Rama asked him , “ Is it not your dharma ,
To go by the right path in a way not to destroy the justice which is suitable for the kings.
How come an anger which goes against the normal practice came in your mind ,
Which is barren? What has happened to you ?”
1731.When the tall Rama told like this , Lakshmana smiled showing his teeth ,
And said, When the father told that this broad Kosala country which spreads long ,
Is yours , you agreed to it and so if our enemies tell you to go to forest,
Is it not proper for me to get angry.:
1732. “After giving you the country in front of my eyes, if even Dasaratha,
Who has a cruel streak himself says , “it is not for you” and when those,
Who do not love you are sending you away to the long forest ,
Would I continue to live carrying this body with weakened five sense organs?”
1733.”Oh Lakshmana who holds the spear made of sun light ,
Which won over lightning as well as fire , When the victorious Dasaratha ,
Earlier told , “become the king” , without thinking that ,
The kingship would make me commit many sinful deeds
My trying to get the kingship , is a mistake on my part.
IN this where is the mistake of Dasaratha who destroyed the power of his enemies.” Rama asked
1734.”Oh son , It is not the mistake of the river , to be without water,
And similarly asking me to go to forest is not the mistake of my father.
It is also the mistake of the mind of Kaikeyi cherished and nourished us.
It is not the the mistake of her son Bharata also , for it is the mistake given by fate.
Why are you getting angry for this without any reason?”
1735. With a hot breath like the air coming out of fire of blacksmith,
Lakshmana asked , “ How can I make my boiling mind cool?
Please now see the power of my bow which will win over,
The mind of Kaikeyi who did harm to you and is this fate ,
Greater than divine trinity and all the devas.”
1736.When Lakshmana told these well thought out words , Rama looking at him told,
“ Oh brother , with the mouth that recited the Vedas are you telling whatever comes to you?
The words that you told just now are words that cannot stand before followers of Dharma,
How is it proper to get angry at our father and mother who brought us up”
1737,. That Lakshmana who was as angry as Shiva who wears the crescent told,
“You are my father and matchless leader. No one else except you is my mother ,
Oh Rama who learned to give to others , Today I will get you the kingship” and stopped Rama.
1738. “Only she who got the boon has the right to get ,
The kingship of the world and Bharata will get it from my matchless father .
And the wealth that I am going to earn now is penance ,
And what else can be better than that”Rama asked.
1739.Rama who is greatest among those with good character further told,
“Would your anger subside only with a victory in war over your brother Bharata ,
Who is going to be entrusted with the rule of the world . which would be ,
His dharma , or defeating our matchless father who is praised by wise people,
Or by achieving victory over our mother who has given birth to us ?”
1740. Hearing the words of that expert of words , Lakshmana told,
“I am hearing the words that were told by your enemies though ,
I am carrying two mountain like lazy shoulders which are having no work,
And I have taken birth in this world to uselessly carry the quiver ,
As well as the great bow and am greatly unlucky. What is use of your anger at me?”
1741.Rama who has seen the end of the southern language and also ,
One who have clearly understood the end of Sanskrit Sastras,
Looking at Lakshmana told , “ Going against our father who talked to us sweetly .
And was looking after and protecting us all these days ,
And ruling the earth is not a proper thing for me to do,
But If you go against my words , what good is going to come to you?
1742.Due to the order of Rama who posseses the knowledge of the four Vedas,
Which are like the four oceans , Lakshmana left off his great anger ,
And also stopped talking against his opinions , standing in front of him ,
And like the sea which never crosses its shore , he attained peace.
1743.Rama who was like Lord Vishnu ,
Who does not have beginning and end hugged Lakshmana
Who was Lord Shiva who had the golden deer’s hide , went inside the home ,
Of Sumithra who spoke only words of great honour.
1744.Sumithra after seeing them who were her son as well as son,
Who were like her own eyes and who have both decided to go to forest,
And with a wounded heart , not able find the other shore of the sea,
Of her endless sorrow fell on the ground and rolled,
1745.Rama supported her hands when he saw her getting feeble and ,
With an aim of doing proper things to console her mind ,
After taking out the saw that can cut off the sorrow in her mind,
And told her , I am not in a position to make the emperor ,
Who has ability in use of sword to be a liar and I would ,
Return quickly after seeing the great forest surrounded by black clouds.”
1746.”Even if I go in to the forest or even to the ocean or even if .
I go to the land of devas which has greatness and great sound,
For me, I would feel that I am in the city of Ayodhya,
Who are there anywhere who can trouble me?
And so do not become weak in body , mind or feelings.”
1747.When they both were consoling Sumithra who was suffering from sorrow,
Though they were not able to put out the fire of separation and were not able .
To quench the killing pain of suffering lonely mind ,
Some ladies who were having extremely thin waists ,
Brought the bark cloths which was sent by Kaikeyi ,
Who had the bad name which will be there forever with her.
1748. Those servant maids whose minds were shedding tears.
Like that of the eye and who were liable to be greatly sad,
On seeing Rama who had the black colour of the rainy cloud , told him,
“These are the bark cloths sent by Kaikeyi who even after seeing ,
The sorrow of others , does not waver from her adamant opinion .”
1749. When the ladies with white teeth like the luster of pearl,
Gave those dresses , the younger brother of Rama told,
“ All the material sent by Kaikeyi who made him loose his kingdom,
Are there and here is my brother who is willing to wear them,
And here I am who carries the bow which is efficient in battle .
Who has been born to see them, please show them to me.”
1750.Then that Lakshmana with love received the bark cloths from those maids ,
And thinking , if only my mother tells me “Oh Lakshmana leave your sorrow
and you also go to the forest,” that would be really great and he saluted,
The feet of Sumithra which shined like gold and she also told some words.”
1751.”That forest where Rama goes is not a place where you should not go ,
It is like the city of Ayodhya only and Rama who loves you lot ,
Is now onwards king Dasaratha to you and our Sita who wears ,
Flowers in her hair , is your mother who even after Rama
Dared to give the kingdom to Bharata and is going to the forest
Are still keeping their souls , and thinking like this go to the forest,
Along with Rama and your staying here further may be a crime,.” She said.
1752,She further told , “Oh son , you go behind him not for moving with him ,
Like a brother , but be his slave who does all his job as per his wish,
If he comes back to this established city of Ayodhya , come back with him .
And if he is not able to come back to Ayodhya, give up your life before him.”
1753.Both of them saluted and mother also wept like a cow,
Leaving both its calves and becoming scared for them,
And both those matchless sons removed the thin cloth ,
That they were wearing , wore the bark cloth and went away.
1754.When Lakshmana also wore bark cloths like himself , Rama ,
Seeing the activity of Lakshmana who wore garlands dripping with honey,
Said to him, “oh brother who has the great fame of praised by devas,
Without saying “no” , please hear the good word that I am telling.”
1755.”Oh brother , all your mothers as well as the king ,
Are not like earlier times and they are drowned in great sorrow,
They have parted with me .Please do a great help to me ,
So that these people who love with me do not suffer sorrow.”
1756.When the best among all males Rama told like this,
Lakshmana with his shoulders which are like pillars, shivering.
Became scared and started crying as the soul which had ,
Come in him is tring to go out and asked Rama,
“What is the mistake that was done by me towards you.”
1757. “Oh Rama who holds the great bow with its string,
If water is there then fish and blue lily can be in it,
And if the earth is there , than all these things are there,
And so please tell who should be there so that ,
Me and Sita are there in this place,”
1758.” Based on the words of Kaikeyi who wears bangles of pure gold,
“Go to forest “, the lady earth is shivering for her life and you have told,
These cruel words possibly thinking that I am the son of that king,
Who lives for protecting the truth , What a cruel word is it?”
1759.”Oh sir, Rama these words are harsher and more cruel ,
Than the words which were an order to me to leave out my anger ,
And be peaceful, when I got angry at the words, “you shall go to forest”.
What words can be more harsher than what you have told now?
1760.Oh Lord who has the powerful spear in the scabbard which has been wiped by ghee ,
Which has wiped away the kajal applied in the eyes of wife of enemies,
Is going to the forest leaving the kingdom which was established by our ancestors,
And which is yours by law and also leaving everything else including us, your duty?”
1761.When Lakshmana told like this , unable to tell anything , Rama looked at,
The face of Lakshmana who had mountain like shoulders and with ,
Tears coming non stop from his lotus like eyes , which was ,
Falling down once in a while , stood there without moving.
1762.That Vasishta who has no sorrow and has done very great penance ,
From the hall of the king , with love towards Rama , reached ,
The palace of Sumithra and both the brothers saluted him ,
And that sage also started getting in the ocean of great sorrow.
1763.Vasishta who could realize everything , saw their faces and minds ,
With his eye and saw the pretty look of the bark cloths over their waist ,
And due to the raising great sorrow forgot himself, What can we say about it?
1764.He thought, “on the auspicious day when he was to get crowned,
Due to the coming of bad fate , he had to wear the bark of wood,
And if Lord Brahma who decides on aspect of the fate determination ,
Himself thinks about it , the bad fate is something that cannot be removed.”
1765.”This aspect of his which makes him go to the forest , after wearing the bark,
Has not been made by Kaikeyi of very bad fate and it is not a result of fate,
That comes to Rama of very soft character and possibly later , it would be known,
“How this event happened?” and “due to whose thought process it happened?”
1766.Vasishta approached near Rama who carried a bow and had eyes like red lotus,
And said to him, “Oh sir, if you leave this palace and go by the way of huge mountains,
Dasaratha who has huge very strong army would not live and will die.”
1767.Rama who came to Ayodhya after lying down on a bed of serpent,
Said, “It is my duty to completely and sincerely obey the order of Dasaratha,
And it is your duty to console him and make him rid of problems. It is also just.”
1768. Then Vasishta told him.” The king never told looking at you,
“ Go and reach the boundary less forest .” but it is a fact that ,
Dasaratha who possesses a spear which has been greatly sharpened ,
Had told , Kaikeyi who talks words much harsher than the arrows of enemies,
Without any thought that, “I would give you a boon.”That is all”.
1769.Rama who was born in this world to establish great Dharma,
Told, “My father Dasaratha told me that he has agreed to give the two boons,
And my mother Kaikeyi ordered me and I agreed to obey that order ,
And are you who has been a witness to all these , trying to stop me.”
1770.When Rama told like this , Vasishta who was not able to reply anything,
Made wet the earth by shedding tears from his long eyes, and Rama ,
With mountain like shoulders saluted the sage and reached ,
The golden door of the palace of king Dasaratha.
1771. We would now describe to a smaller extent the sorrow of the mind ,
Attained by the people of the city who have seen Rama wearing,
Cloth made of bark and who was followed by his younger brother,
And with a faultless joyful face resembling the lotus flower and have understood his mind.
1772. Those ladies of Ayodhya who resembled the divine ladies of heaven,
AS soon as they saw Rama wearing cloth made of bark , like the bees
With closely formed new leaves and which were tipsy with honey,
Patted their very long eyes with their own hands.
1773.Due to the uncontrollable love , they did not know themselves ,
And even before the father of the great one reached the heaven,
They went there first and was it to cut their karma earned in this birth,
Or was it to ensure that their suffering souls due to parting never returns.
1774.Some fell down on earth , some stood by after moaning and weeping,
And Some were drowned in the tears that fell continuously from their eyes ,
And some suffered as if the curl of their hair has caught fire and became sad.
1775.Those ladies whose speech was as sweet as sugarcane , did not shed tears,
And feeling as if they have lost their great wealth and stood there,
With other people telling that they are all cruel people with heart like steel,
And perhaps this happened because they had lost consciousness due to sorrow.
1776. The body broke for some , and the soul was not stable in side them,
And their souls re entered the body heralding that they would go out any time,
And their flower like eyes due to the drying of tears became wounds and shed blood.
1777.Some valorous people who had two elephant like hands ,
Due to their not wanting their heads , cut them off with sword,
And keeping it in one hand . rolled it on the ground .
And with their small sharp swords destroyed their flower like eyes.
1778.The ornaments of ladies fell down and spread everywhere ,
The gems embedded in them came out , the waist belt,
That they were wearing got cut off like a flower garland and fell down,
And their face which has become dim were defeated by the moon.
1779.The sixty thousand wives of Dasaratha who had faultless virtue ,
With tears which fell like rain , followed Rama the boy and ,
Cried with open mouths and wept like the sea with tides.
1780.Those queens who have not given birth to other sons except Rama,
Fell down on earth like young peacocks , groups of koels,
And swans which have all lost their wings and greatly sorrowed.
1781.The nectar like words of those young queens , due to,
Their deep breaths and limitless crying were defeated by
The sound of flute made of bamboo by making holes ,
And the yaazh which was an instrument made of strings.
1782.When they cried saying that “ from now the forest only,
Is the home of Rama “ and were pitying the fate of their son,
The red nectar like mouth of those ladies were made further red by crying,
Made that broad palace look like field of thousands of open red lily flowers.
1783. The river like tears that they shed mixed with layers of Kumkum,
Applied by them over their breasts became like slushy mud ,
And fell down pulling their pearl garlands
Which got down from the peak of their breasts,
And entered inside their ocean like waist belts.
1784. The face of the queens of Dasaratha who was king of Kosala with many gardens,
Was like fully opened lotus flowers and was for the first time seen by the sun god,
Proving that even for the king of gods of heaven , when sorrow comes, all bad events happen.
1785.Mothers , relations , those who depend on the royal family,
All those who work and live in the palaces and very pretty women,
Became greatly pained as if they have fallen on burning fire ,
And came near Rama completely covering the door of the palace.
1786.They all cried and after crying slowly got up and in all places,
They followed him like an ocean, that Rama who had shoulders like mountains ,
Not knowing how to console all of them and without thinking ,
About preventing them from following him reached his home .
1787.He who had gone in a golden chariot where bells have been tied,
For the purpose of wearing the great and famous crown,
Returned to that street that was shining with wealth ,
Wearing a dress of bark which indicated his going away.
1788.Great sages , kings of land and all those who stay ,
In that faultless city and also people of that country,
Without knowing how to express their sorrow ,
And even the devas became very sad ,
Not even wanting the good that would come in future.
1789.Some thought that our soul is much stronger ,
Than our mind which did not break on seeing ,
The pretty Rama of bad colour suffering ,
Being deceived and suffering .
1790. “Is the waiting by us expecting that he would come back crowned,
Meant to see him going in to the hot and horrible forest ?
To be born in the country with ladies with cruel deeds ,
Is a great misfortune especially having an eye to see that cruelty.”
1791.Some said, “though being born as the eldest son , who
Got the entire earth to rule , the very strong Rama ,
Has started his journey telling I would live in forest along with tigers .
Should we keep quiet seeing him go? Should we cry?. This love seems to be pretty.”
1792.Some seeing the kings who have lost their strength and who remain ignorant,
Said. ‘Do not engage in activities which would lead to destruction of Dharma,
And if you do so , you would be similar to Kaikeyi, who drove away Rama,
Who won over Parasurama who destroyed twenty one generations of your families.”
1793.” The one who is going to assist Rama who has tied the bark cloth,
Prettily over his waist and who is going with great sorrow is ,
One child among the two sons of Queen Sumithra , is he the only one,
Are there no more people in this city who will help him,” people asked.
1794.Some said “let us break in to two pieces , our very hard heart,
Which is stronger than the stone with an axe ,” , all those who run were running ,
And when the eyes shed tears which was flowing like a river ,
And it made the land slushy and many people slipped and fell and became very sad,
1795.Some people removed ornaments made of gold and gems
From their body, and removed an threw away the cloths,
Which were shining like stars from their body shining like lightning ,
And wore vary small tight dresses on their body.
1796.Those people who had many children , even when a son ,
Who does not have few of the senses working dies , would take away their life ,
But here the king has given a boon allowing his son ,
Who is eligible to kingship to go to the forest to protect truth,
It indicates the mind of the king is made of steel.
1797.The pretty women with inward bending thin waists and
Heavy breasts which hurt the waist , going to one side,
Like a flowering creeper , with great sorrow cried ,
Keeping their red thin hands on their head,
1798. In the very tall buildings which were like the tall peaks
Ladies standing on the top floor resembling the slowly moving moon,
With their tears dropping on their tip of their breasts ,
Cooed like the peacock which lives on mountain top.
1799.The tears from the kajal applied eyes of the ladies who were seeing Rama,
From the ventilators of buildings where the smoke of Akil travels like cloud,
And who were having sweet voice but were sorrowing ,
Flowed like a stream and cried telling the same words,
Like the parrot which was in cage near the window.
1800.The tears flowing from the wide eyes of ladies,
Who were seeing Rama from the top floor of buildings,
Fell on the floor of the building and made a depression there,
Which looked like the pits made by ladies getting angry at the prince.
1801.Due to the continuing sorrow stealing the wisdom,
Mothers forgot about their children and the children,
Were not aware of the places their mothers went ,
And due to that they shouted , cried and became tired due to broken mind.
1802.Because the great ladies who had sweet voice like the well ripened,
Kamara fruit had all reached the street , the white mansions ,
Became like the wilted lotus flower as they have been ,
Forsaken by Goddess Lakshmi with honey filled scented hair.
1803. On one side like the deer stuck by an arrow which had,
Attained near to the state of death which were struggling,
Some ladies with falling ornaments and with their hair,
Resembling the cloud rolling over earth , went in groups.
1804.The flags flying on buildings which were like mountains ,
Stopped flying , the sound coming from drums became muted,
The sound which was coming from many instruments ,
Lost their sound and all over the earth , the dust ,
In the outside streets subsided due to the rain of tears.
1805.There was no smoke from kitchens ,The scented akil smoke,
Was not coming out of mansions , The parrots lost the milk cup,
And due to the
great sorrow of the very
tired mothers ,
Little babies lost the cradles on which bells were tied.
1806.As if the life has gone out , the face lost its luster,
The rain drops stopped falling , the horses lost the pure water ways,
And even elephants in rut , like the bee drunk ,
With honey of the flower stopped playing.
1807.Umbrellas stopped giving shade , the hair of the ladies ,
With long eyes discontinued decoration by flower ,
The feet of valorous men stopped wearing heroic anklets,
The flower arrows of angry god of love were not able to raise passion,
And the andril (love) birds preferred to stay alone without mate .
1808.The sound from golden necklace stooped ,
The drums stopped by their sound due to being tied by thick strings,
The sound of the cloud like chariots were lost,
And the streets were like oceans which have left sound of water.
1809.There was no sound of marching in royal avenues , the sound of ,
The strings of theYaazh as raised by the music traditions was also not heard ,
There was no sound coming from celebrations of the devas,
And except for the sound of crying no other sound was heard.
1810.The ringing sound from the pretty houses where the anklets ,
With pure sound make continuous sound was not being heard,
The tender waist belts also stopped making sound ,
There was no sound from birds , gardens did not have sound from birds,
There was no sound of bees on flowers and the elephants did not trumpet.
1811.The fields forgot water , the hands
of red mouthed ladies were forgotten,
The fire of Yagnas forgot the ghee ,
the great scholars forgot the sound of Vedas.
1812.Those who were dancing in huge groups cried,
Those who were singing the seven nectar like notes cried.
Those who developed love tiff with their lovers cried,
And those ladies who joined with their life like lovers cried.
1813.The elephants did not extend their trunk in water ,
The horses did not eat grass, birds did not feed their young ones ,
The cows which have delivered did not feed their calves,
And became greatly depressed and tired.
1814. The sandal paste applied on the big shoulders of men,
Did not reach the tender coconut like breasts of the ladies,
And flowers which decorated the hair of the men,
Did not go and reach the hairs of ladies which was empty.
1815.Big elephants refused to wear the good ornament of face mask,
The rows of houses hated to wear the gem called Chooda on their crests,
The pretty compound walls made of gold hated to wear the pretty flags,
And the deer with a soft walk hated to be with their mates.
1816.Great Yogis who saw pleasure and pain in same manner suffered due to great sorrow,
And those who with a broken heart saw this is a result of bad Karma with sorrow,
What is there to think and tell in this when some felt that it is due to good fate?
1817.In that city of Ayodhya , Without exception all the good souls ,
Underwent great suffering and were wandering listlessly here and there,
With their natural beauty getting destroyed, with illness of crying increasing,
With the faultless five senses getting greatly disturbed ,
Looked like Dasaratha who was leaving out his soul.
1818.When that city faded and joined together , the servants ,
With disturbed mind following him, Rama who was the one soul,
To the several beings who were travelling reached ,
The palace of Sita who had breasts covered with shining ornaments .
1819 With Brahmins , great sages and kings who were crying and were coated with dust ,
Coming near him and sob , When Rama was coming dressed in bark cloths ,
That were not pretty , Sita who was like a lady in a picture , stood up greatly disturbed.
1820.Her mother in law hugged the lady who stood up and was bathed in new water of stream,
Of tears coming out of her Kajal painted eyes and who was crying ,
Though she with a greatly disturbed mind did not know the reason for it,
With tears ebbing out of her eyes, she looking at Rama
She who had a shivering body similar to the lightning asked,
“Oh Lord who wears golden anklets , Is there any sorrow,
Which occurred to the famous emperor and if it is not there ,
What is the reason for this very great sorrow, Please tell.”
1822.He said, “My matchless younger brother Bharata would,
Rule the earth and I having decided to follow the order of my parents,
Would start today itself and reach the forest with mountains ,
Surrounded by clouds and reach back. Do not become sad.”
1823.Hearing that Sita understanding that her lord is going to the forest,
And that he had lost the kingdom that was owned by him,
Did not cry, but the very cruel words , “I am going and do not cry”,
Burnt her ears and due to that she became greatly depressed.
1824.She who was with him on Adhi Sesha in the ocean of milk ,
Thinking that “dharma would get destroyed” , even after ,
He came to Ayodhya did not part from him and when he said,
The words that I am leaving you , became inconsolable .
1825,She whose nature was like that thought that,
The orders to him from his father and mother was indeed pure,
And he said to me, “You be here in the palace” .
And thinking about it again and again struggled with sorrow.
1826.Rama said,”Oh Sita, your feet fed by the cold juice of red cotton,
Are not hard enough to walk in the mountain paths similar to cruel asuras,
Nor to walk in the forest path which shows head like a molten lac
Or to being rubbed by the rocks of the forest.”
1827.Sita replied, “ With a least love in your mind you are,
Leaving me and going away , Where is it told that,
The sun at the time of final deluge is hot,
Would the big forest be more hot than parting with you?”
1828.Rama hearing the words that were told by her,
Clearly understood the thought that rose in her mind,
And not willing to leave her there in the ocean of tears,
He started thinking about what he should do.
1829.She then went in to the private rooms in her home,
Taking a decision took the bark suitable to be worn,
She wore it and with a thought of accompanying Rama,
She went behind Rama and held his hand which were long like a palm.
1830.All those who saw Sita dressed up in wooden bark,
Fell on the earth which is a place to die but they did not die,
For if they have more life span , how can they die ,
And they would still be living even if deluge comes.
1831.Her sisters , her maids who were with her ,
And her several friends who loved her dearly,
Became like people drowned in sea of fire and then,
The red eyed Rama looking at the virtuous Sita told.
1832.Oh Sita who has pretty teeth which can win over,
Jasmine buds as well as sea pearls if they compete,
You are not thinking about the ill effects that may come,
And have become ready to come with me and,
Because of that you would create measureless problems.”
1833.When the king Rama told these words ,
Sita who had a voice like an angry koel seethed with anger,
And told, ‘It looks the only sorrow that you would face in the forest,
Is my coming with you and possibly there is some other pleasure in the forest.”
1834,. Then Rama without talking any other word ,
Not getting path, moved away with difficulty in the field like streets,
Due to the slushy mud created there ,
Due to the crying of men and women.
1835.With Sita dressed in wooden bark cloth following him and with,
The strong Lakshmana holding a great bow going in front,
Rama who was like the cloud started moving, and can we ,
Describe properly the great sorrow attained by the citizens.
1836.From then no body cried and became sad and with depressed mind,
They all thought about it and decided, “Even before he reaches the forest,
We will go there, “ and with shouting “war” , they all departed from there.
1837.Rama who held a bow which was decorated by a garland,
As soon as he reached the door of the palace of Dasaratha,
Saluted his mothers who were accompanying him and ,
Requested them, “Be here and console the emperor” ,
And all those ladies hearing that fell down in a swoon.
1838.Those mothers who were crying making scar on their toungues,
Blessed their son as well as their daughter in law , praised them,
And prayed to God, “Oh Gods , protect them and give them back to us.”
1839. After their mothers parted from them with lot of difficulty ,
Rama saluted the sage who was standing in the front , along with his,
Soul like younger brother Lakshmana and Sita , who was,
The goddess Lakshmi sitting on the flower , he went away riding on a chariot.
The chapter on floating in oil.
(The people of the entire city accompanied Rama, Lakshmana and Sita who were driven in a chariot by Sumantra. The night came and when all of those people were sleeping Rama, requested Sumantra to go back so that on waking people would think that Rama had gone back to Ayodhya. Sumantra went back to city and along with sage Vasishta informed Dasaratha about the going away of Rama to the forest. Dasaratha died immediately Sage Vasishta preserves his body in oil and send emissaries to bring back Bharata. The sixty thousand wives who wanted to die with Dasaratha waited. Meanwhile Rama went inside the forest along with Sita and Lakshmana. Next day people of Ayodhya return back the next day,
The order of treatment is slightly different in Valmiki Ramayana. Dasaratha tells Kausalya about the story of his curse . Dasaratha dies in his sleep and this is noticed by his servants and Kausalya was not present at that time. In fact Kausalya and Sumithra were sleeping at the time of his death.. There is no mention of any wives dying in the pyre. The return of Sumatra is only after Rama reaches Ganga and meets Guha, leaving the people Sumantra goes towards Ayodhya but returns without leaving a mark and takes them to river Ganges )
1840.Who are the people who did not follow,
Behind Rama who was sent by his father to forest?
None except the king Dasaratha who had a great army ,
His queens and the pictures of Ayodhya ,
Which did not go because they do not have a soul.
1841. That chariot of Rama which was made of pure Gold ,
Went slowly due to water spreading round it due to the tears shed by people,
As well as the river of the crowds of people surrounding it,
And was similar to the the fish incarnation of Lord Vishnu ,
Travelling in water surrounding the seven worlds during deluge.
1842.The sun god saying , “I do not like to see Rama entering the forest”,
Hastened up to go in the stony paths of the very deep forests,
And with stars coming out saying , we are always there ,
With light of sun disappearing , and cows returning ,
With buffaloes after grazing , he reached the mountain of setting.
1843.The crowd of lotus flowers which was similar to ,
The faces of ladies of Ayodhya who had lustrous forehead,
Created by Lord Brahma by breaking the moon,
Growing in the toddy , had lost their luster and had lost its beauty.
1844. Because it was evening , the sun whose light had gone ,
Was like the good mind of the daughter of king Kekaya,
Whose mind was poisoned by Kooni and had got faded,
And like her mind was dark having lost its goodness.
1845.The faded sky on which the stars were spread everywhere ,
Was looking like the body of Indra which is always closely filled
With eyes that do not blink, due to the curse of the sage ,
Who did not have any sorrow at any time.
1846-1847.Rama after speedily going two Yojana distance from Ayodhya,
Reached a garden which had pleasant smell , got down from the chariot,
And when he was happily staying with the knowledgeable sages there,
Who were happy due to his coming , the army which followed Rama ,
Surrounded him in a circle for one Yojana distance and covered the ,
Garden so tightly that if one wants to throw gingely , there was no place.
1848.All those who went along with Rama , never put anything in their mouth,
They did not sleep , They went on crying endlessly and they stayed ,
On the banks of the river which looked gem studded , on broad expanse of sand,
And on the grass lands and in all places fit for staying.
1849.On the thin cloth which was like the film formed with hot steam,
Of the women with eyes like two blue lotus flowers , in the
Scented Lotus flower which has freshly bloomed in the pond,
Small girls with untied hair scented like musk, were sleeping.
1850.The old women who have walked long distance at the day time ,
Who have breasts which beat the flowers of coconut ,
Young ladies who had breasts like the buds of lotus flower ,
Who had sharp black eyes , who were talking words as sweet as sugarcane
On their laps being the mothers who looked after them.
1851.Young ladies with kajal applied eyes which are like split tender mangoes
Were sleeping like young female elephants on the sand mountains which had flowers,
And the valorous marava lads who had spears which always had flesh,
Were sleeping like small eyed male elephants which protect female elephants.
1852,Some ladies slept in the tent made of Kurukathi sleepers , in the,
Outside room which was decorated by blue gems and looked like the sky,
And some others in the middle of betel nut tree forest in the depressions,
And on sand mountains like a row of winged swans.
1853.In the scented forest of Champaka trees, some of them slept ,
Like the vanchi creepers which had broken down with great tiredness.
Some others with cloth tied over their breasts , moving like ,
The Pavala creepers which grow on sand , slept with great tiresomeness.
1854, Young ladies , who were not able to see the face and enjoy ,
The mercy of their husbands who were of good character and great penance ,
Like the very sad dancing peacocks who were so tired as if their soul is going,
Slept with their babies scratching the tip of their breasts.
1855.Some who were like cool snow covering the mountain of kumkum,
Slept with the dust of sand spreading on their pure breasts,
Some with greatly faded faces slept on their pretty hands,
As if they thought the place was filled with lotus flowers.
1856,When all of them were sleeping like this Rama called ,
Sumantra who has not slept and said, “There is a job,
For you who are complexly faultless and full of goodness,
That remains to be done in the future , Please hear about that.”
1857.”It is impossible for us to ask these people ,
Who have great love to us to return back and it is not,
Good to go from here to the forest without sending them ,.
So oh my father like Sumanthra , if you can now make the chariot,
Look as if it has gone back they would think that I have gone back,
And would themselves go back , This is a request that I make to you.”
1858” .When Rama of great honesty told like this,
The charioteer told,”if I leave you here , my soul will depart from me today itself,
And I would go to Ayodhya without soul to see there also dead bodies and since,
My mind does not like that , I who am pitiable but would be better than,
The cruel mother Kaikeyi and the cruel fate.”
1859”.Would I go and tell there that I left here the great Rama ,
Followed by goddess like Sita and Lakshmana in the forest with flowers,
And Would I be able to tell that I have returned bringing Rama with me ?
What should I the steel hearted man go and tell there?”
1860. “Would I who am a very long standing friend go and tell that,
Along with Sita who wears cloth over her breasts and who would not be ,
Able to walk on even that the flower used for making garlands along with ,
The two strong sons were left by me in the forest to go by walk,
And I returned back without any problem driving the chariot.”
1861. Though I am with very strong senses , a stone like mind and an ignorant cheat,
Would I be able to tell Dasaratha whose broken mind has destroyed his body,
The great words which has been told by you , who is extremely wise or,
Would it be told by the messenger of God of death.
1862.”Oh Rama ,to the Dasaratha who is being kept alive by consoling him,
By telling that all the people in four directions and the people of the city ,
Would bring your son ,would I be able to tell these cruel words ,
Of God of death and would I be responsible to kill him.”
1863.”Would I be able tell him that, the lion among men ,
To whom you became the father with great difficulty ,
By doing Yagnas on fire has gone to the forest ,
And If I am the last one who would be able to see my king ,
Possibly queen Kaikeyi is a good lady compared to me.”
1864.After telling Rama that these are his views,
He became like a serpent hearing the thunder
Struggled and became worn out , caught hold ,
Of the feet of Rama and again and again,
Kept on repeating several words and rolled on earth,
1865. Rama who had controlled his five senses , who can be approached ,
Only with the pure wisdom which is beyond the mind ,
Lifted that Sumantra with his big hands , wiped away his tears,
Made him sit separately and told the following words.
1866.”oh Sumantra who has a great mind which realizes that ,
If one is born , pleasure and pain are something which follows from it,
Thinking that it would lead to sorrow or thinking that , the people ,
Of this world would find fault with you . how can we forget Dharma.
1867.” The great dharma would give fame to the one who follows it,
And would be with you even after death , would grant you the upper worlds,
And if sweet events happen to us due to that adopt Dharma and if,
Bad events happen to us, is it proper for us to forsake Dharma?”
1868. “ Heroism is not the strength that you have to face ,
The great and lustrous weapons come and hit your chest ,
But it is being told as those who do not leave dharma ,
Even if he dies are completely loses all the wealth he has.”
1869.”Oh Sumantra who has the spear that cuts body and drinks the blood,
Suppose I return back now considering the sorrows that I need face in the forest,
My clan which is ancient and which had kings whose fame had touched the sky,
Would be told as one which erred from Dharma due to me.”
1870, If people say that”That Dasaratha who has great truth which is
beyond person’s capability has sent his great son to the forest “
Then it would be great penance to the king and it would be a great penance to me ,
If I obey it word by word and completely. So do not take pity on me.”
1871.”You please go there , first meet sage Vasishta,
Inform him my salutations and along with him reach my father,
And tell him my mind’s intentions”, said Rama.
1872. You also tell my younger brother Bharata ,
To rule according to law and do beneficial things ,
To greatly pure Brahmins and the devas who live in heaven.
And also tell him to get rid of the sorrow of loneliness ,
By coming away from there and tell this in a soft way.
1873.Tell him also not to bother about the great sorrow created by Kaikeyi ,
Even to a micro extent in his mind and show the same affection and care,
That he has to me on the king Dasaratha also.
1874. After you go there along with sage Vasishta of great penance ,
Reach the palace and meet Dasaratha the greatest among males ,
And console him with sweet words and inform him,
That I wanted a boon from him that “I need this boon from you. Please show the same,
Love that you show to me towards my brother Bharata also.”
1875. Further tell that “ after fourteen years I would return,
And salute his holy feet , and in this I would not fail”
To the king , who has the valorous elephant with the face mask,
And make his mind clear by the words of the sage who never gets tired.”
1876 .That Rama who is invisible and not reachable even to the devas .
And who had reached the forest as per the need of his incarnation ,
Further said, Inform my three mothers of my salutations ,
And request them later to console the king and stay near him.
1877.Considering that the duty of the servant is to obey the order of master,
And deciding that going back to Ayodhya is the proper thing ,
That Sumantra who could drive the great chariot properly ,
And thinking that “this is a sorrow which has come due to fate “
And he looked at her who was the cause of joy in life.
1878. That Sita said, “after informing my salutations to the king,
As well as my mother in laws , request my sisters,
Who would be thinking about me to look after
My parrot as well as my golden flower.”
1879. That expert charioteer after hearing those words of Sita,
Becoming very sad thinking about the sorrows that Sita has to face,
And thought “If bad things which cannot be prevented comes,
It would be better to leave this life and that it is not easy to do,
And when Rama prevented him he sobbed and cried greatly.
1880. That Sumantra who had impartial love towards them,
Slightly consoling himself and told Rama, “Grant me leave to go”,
And after saluting that heroic Rama asked the younger Lakshmana,
“What should I tell in the palace “ , he told him as follows.
1881.”After announcing in the king’s council That this wealth of Kosala,
Country is to be ruled by my lord Rama and due to the oath,
He had given to the Kaikeyi with scented hair ,
That Dasaratha took away the kingship from Rama .
Does he deserve to be called as a king even now.”
1882.”That truthful king who made his son go to the forest,
And made him eat the raw fruits of tree and who,
Himself partakes in great feasts in the palace,
Is taking care of his body and does not have ,
The strength himself to the forest,”
1883.Tell the king Bharata who rules along with lustrous sword,
“I am not born with him who is ruling the earth,
And I am also not an elder brother to my brother Sathrugna ,
And also tell them, that even now I continue to remain strong.
1884.Then Rama looked at his younger brother and said,
“Sir , do not tell the words that are not good “ and
The expert on driving the chariot with a struggling mind,
Saluted them falling on the earth and started to return back.
1885.Then he got ready the chariot and attached ,
The horses to it in the proper fashion,
And due to his expertise in chariot , drove it,
In such a way that none who were sleeping were disturbed.
1886.With his great character , the virtue of Sita and his brother,
The lord went to do faultless mercy , wisdom and truth ,
With only his bow to protect him in the mid of night.
1887.While that darkness which was pitch black being friendly ,
To those Rakshasas who help the cruel deceptive deeds,
Wanting to help their bad deeds due to its friendship with them,
Was wanting to obstruct Rama and others , there appeared,
In the sky the moon which looked like a hand held lamp.
1888.Dharma who was compelling those two with thunder like bow ,
Who were both supporting and keeping it alive and who were,
Interested in destroying the cruel sin of killing others ,
Thinking of the good things that they are going to do ,
Came to see them with joy and the face of that Dharma,
Shined in the sky like the matchless white moon.
1889.Seeing the poverty of Rama who was going through,
The forest path surrounded by very tall bamboo plants,
The lily flowers (changazhneer) cried and folded themselves,
And the AAmbal flowers which open at night which were,
In look similar to head of rat snakes had fallen down,
And this being so, how can the other tender flowers open at that night.
1890. To Rama who was similar to a black mountain , to Lakshmana ,
Who was like a gold shield that was covering and protecting Rama,
And to the tender feet of that lady with eye brows like the bow,
The path that they have to proceed was like one spread with white cotton,
Due the moon spreading its early rays , every where.
1891.The small feet of Sita, with very narrow waist and very large breasts,
And very wealthy luxurious black hair are as tender as the water bubble,
And because she was following Rama , it is not possible for us to know,
That there is something greater than the very strong love she had to Rama.
1892.Before sun rose on the east behind the rising mountain,
Rama the consort of Goddess Lakshmi travelled,
To a distance of two Yojanas towards the south ,
And we would now tell about the deeds of Sumantra ,
Who went with a wounded mind and stream like tears
On a chariot drawn by swift horses speedily.
1893.Within two hours he reached Ayodhya protected by walls,
And saluted the holy feet of the primeval sage(Vasishta) and
He heard about all that happened , became sad in his mind ,
And knowing all that was to come said”Alas the king is dead.”
1894.He along with Sumanthra went in to the golden palace of that king sobbing,
“Fearing the words of the people Dasaratha was not willing to stop Rama ,
And Rama who is firm on Dharma , did not hear my advice to him,
Not to go the forest and so who are there who have won over fate.”
1895, Lead by their innate desire, the ministers thought that,
Rama has come back in the chariot and went round Dasaratha,
Who was like the moon surrounded by the cloud ,
But not able to see Rama with a cloud like body ,
And seing the state of Sumantra with tears,
That never could change and became greatly dejected.
1896.When all of them told that, “the chariot has arrived “,
Dasaratha thinking that the blessed one has come back,
Got up from his swoon and opened his eyes,
Which were like the faultless lotus flower,
And seeing the sage with great penance ,
Asked him, “Has my hero come back?”
1897.Vasishta not in a position to say “no” , with great sorrow,
Remained silent and his face itself told Dasaratha ,
That , “Rama has not come back “, he became exhausted,
And the sage saying , “ I do not have ability,
To see this great sorrow “ and went away from there.
1898.Dasaratha then looking at charioteer asked him,
Whether Rama is inside the palace or far away ,
And that expert charioteer told him that,
“Rama along with his brother and the gold of Mithila,
Had gone in side the forest where tall bamboo plants and they are there”
And immediately Dasaratha lost his soul and died.
1899.Indra and other Gods like him came in a moon like ,
Airplane lifted him in that and becoming very joyous said,
“Our father of Rama has come” and took him to the world,
Which was above the world of God who sits on lotus from belly ,
And made him reach the world, from which no body comes back.
1900.Kausalya who was like a very great peacock understanding,
That there is no palpitation or breath , examining and,
Understanding that Dasaratha is no more with great sorrow,
Like a worm without bones which was exposed to heat of summer fell down.
1901.That lady who did great penance to give birth to Lord Vishnu,
Who created Brahma from his belly button, after loosing her husband,
Sobbed and suffered like devas who lost the nectar , the serpent who lost the gem,
And started wailing like a female Andril bird which lost its mate .
1902.’That Dasaratha who cannot be opposed by any one and who has lost,
His only protection , has left us all alas” said she and like the fish,
Which got upset due to no rain and no water in the soil ,
And started falling due to body becoming unstable.
1903.”Sons would send their parents to the blessed other world ,
And not only that they would protect them when they are alive , is it not?
And so how can evil occur to those who have given birth to children?
But our son instead of coming here and saying “do not be scared”
And protect our lives, has he not killed his father?” saying this she started shivering.
1904.” That very strong Dasaratha , without illness which causes death,
And not having lustrous weapons on him had died due to his sons whom he loved.
And he thus resembled snakes with dots on the banana plant ,
And also the bamboo plant “ saying this she fell down fainted.
1904.That Kausalya who was struggling on the chest of the king like ,
Lightning streaks over the cloud said, “Oh Kaikeyi with very long pretty well made hair,
By your intelligence you could get the earth and got a boon that cannot be changed,
And have you not now itself stopped the counseling?”
1905. Like a she elephant tying a royal elephant by her legs ,
The sick Kausalya looking at Dasaratha told, “Oh king who attained,
Victory over Sambara who cannot be easily defeated in early days ,
You won the war and devas lived with joy due to you and now you are their guest.”
1906. Kausalya who gave birth to Rama whose wealth of fame was ,
Enjoyed by the devas asked, “Have you gone to enjoy the fruits of Yagna done earlier”
Or have you gone to experience your advices which were matchless and held tightly by you,
Or have you gone to enjoy the fruits never defeated life , led by you as per manu’s edict.”
1907.When the chief queen of the great king of earth was crying and prattling,
Her step wife Sumithra who was also her friend cried and became enfeebled,
And when that palace was tottering like the rotating earth at deluge,
All other largely ignorant wives of Dasaratha came like a crowd of peacocks and wailed.
1908.In this world which had salt pan fields surrounded by the oceans,
Those queens whom the deva maidens and other virtuous ladies ,
Thought as most virtuous and who had flawless moon like faces ,
Stood in the palace near the stable mountain like a crowd of peacocks ,
1909. Those queens who were holding and not leaving the body of Dasaratha
Who had parted from his son and who had lost his life due to the abhorrent words of Kaikeyi ,
And who always stood only by the truth were looking like those,
Were waiting to travel in the ship which had crossed the ocean of birth,
And had just returned and by which the fish called Avidhya which makes one mad travels.
1912.When all the sixty thousand queens had firmly decided ,to die ,
With Dasaratha in his funeral pyre and with the faultless ,
Queens Kausalya and Sumithra becoming worried and faded,
And when Sumantra riding on his gem studded lustrous chariot ,
Went and informed Vasishta he looked at the acts of fate ,
By his mind and eyes and started sobbing.
1913.That Vasishta who came here thought that the king had died,
Due to giving the boon and parting with his son and further ,
Thinking only about it became greatly depressed and became like a sailor,
Of a broken ship in ocean full of waves who had lost his capain.
1914.Vasishta further thought that, “Since there is no one present,
Who can perform the death rituals and also thinking that anything,
Which comes is bound to come and taking in to consideration,
Normal rules of the world and deciding that these could be performed,
Only after Bharata who is son of the cruel lady who had lost her mind,
Comes to Ayodhya took the body away from the ocean of women,
And arranged it to be preserved in an ocean of oil.
1915.After telling the sixty thousand queens that, “ When the rituals,
Of death are being performed by him , you can also climb the pyre.”
And sending them away and after making those faultless queens ,
To stay in the palace , Giving the royal order sent emissaries .
With a request” bring back with you Bharata who wears the cool garland.”
1916.After those emissaries left for the lustrous town of the king of Kekaya,
The very wise Vasishta asked the Commander Sumantra “Perform actions,
That are needed” and to perform his Dharma, reached his hermitage ,
And we will now tell what happened to people who went with Rama.
1917.The sun that gives sun light to us , knowing the son of his clan,
Had died and his sons are far away from him , possibly,
Thinking that till they come I would look after the kingdom,
With the sea fishes bellowing like a big drum,
With devas praying him , with people on earth offering morning ablations,
With his sword with pure luster shining by his side ,
Came riding on his chariot of sun’s rays.
1918.Those citizens who sorrowed like no one has done before
Who had forgotten themselves , thinking that Rama was still there,
Got up and went to the place Rama was there and not able to see ,
The cloud coloured Rama who had a lotus like eyes full of grace ,
Fainted and closed their eyes thinking of killing themselves ,
And fell on the earth and started rolling there.
1919.They would get up wanting to run in all eight directions,
Get up, fall down , fall in the ocean of sorrow , ail,
“He has left us and gone away and what he did is cruel”,
And further say, “After all the wide Dandaka forest is in this world ,
And so it is not proper for us to loose our balance and it is not a crime.
Let us follow the tracks let by his chariot and reach him.”
1920.All of them searched for the tracks and found it to be turning ,
Towards their great city and getting their soul back said,
“All of you please do not be afraid for Rama has reached back to Ayodhya,
And they shouted with joy as if the sea and thunder have joined together.”
1921.All those people of the city who were there thinking that ,
The Rama who defeated the god of love who belonged ,
To the matchless spring , has returned back to the city,
And this acted like great medicine for bite of very poisonous,
Snake . releasing the great poison from his curved teeth,
And they were like people whose soul has left them ,
Who had taken great nectar as medicine to cure death,
And found that the soul had entered in to them again.
1932. As the path progresses not seeing any other mark than of the wheels of the chariot,
And not seeing any other marks , with more and more greater ebbing joy,
Like the sea , in the period when creation started after deluge , which crossed,
The entire limits of the earth and existed within its own limits ,
They returned back and reached great city of Ayodhya surrounded by walls.
1933.The people after they entered the city heard that their king,
Had attained the golden land and were mind broken and shed their souls ,
WE would not be in a position to describe their sorrow and they also knew,
That Rama had gone to the forest and if there is a limit of time,
When the rest of the soul had to go out , would it be when they heard that?
1934. Without being able to help the king and not also able to help,
Rama who went to the forest , they suffered like those closed in,
The inescapable prison of misery and when sage Vasishta ,
Who was with them told that he stayed there fearing ,
The coming of unthinkable bad name and he removed their ,
Extreme sorrow by various words of consolations.
1935.As per the order of the sage Vasishta fearing the Vadavagni
Which existed in between the seas , like the deep sea ,
Which never crosses its banks when those sorrowing people ,
Continued to live in that city , we will now start telling
About the Rama with a strong bow who went to the forest,
Due to penance of devas as per the order of the very generous Dasaratha.
6.Gangai Padalam
Chapter on Ganges
(Rama , Sita and Lakshmana reach river Ganges. Saints who were living there and received them.
In Valmiki Ramayanam Sumanthra is with them till they reach the river Ganges and then only returns.)
1926.Rama whose comparison to Kajal or emerald or the tumultuous sea ,
Or The rain clouds would not be , alas , really adequate
And whose body which had the destruction less prettiness ,
With the light of the sun falling on him and reflecting blue colour,
Went along with her whose “waist “is a lie and his brother.
1927.She who had matchless hair which was like black sand lying near to each other ,
She who had sweet speech which is comparable only with nectar churned out from sea,
She who had pure qualities like complete penance and had a matchless sky like waist,
And Rama who had the gait of a strong bull were going on their path,
Like the male swan with very great pride and the female swan with simplicity.
1928.Sita who had pretty eyes which defeated the five arrows of god of love,
As well as the sharp arrows of Lord Rama , as something inconsequential
And which were in a position to win victory over cruel poisons , saw that ,
The pretty as well as proud bees with their nature of setting down on hair,
Were preferring to settle down on the flower like feet of Rama .
Rather than the lotus flowers which had bloomed all around.
1929-1930.With Sita who had hair scented with perfume powders and pollen grains ,
And had crescent of moon shaped forehead and Rama who had lips,
Which added redness to corals walked like cloud coming with lightning,
Like the pretty male elephant wearing ornaments coming with female elephants .
Rama saw the crowd of blue lily flowers being thrown from the field Which was
Similar to the eyes of Sita with a voice similar to that of a parrot , which was
Like the nectar like music raising from the flute with holes which can be enjoyed by the ears.
Like the music which comes out from Yaazh which had tightly tied strings,
Like the pure quality honey , with well matured bar of sugar syrup.
1931.That Sita with her breasts similar to two golden pots over which,
The newly formed flower buds have been kept and like the very proud ,
Tusks of the Male Elephant and hairs like the cloud of rainy season,
Seeing the presses for extracting juice out of sugar cane here and there ,
Went on playing with Rama who had mountain like shoulders.
1932. They both saw ghats made by row of pearls created by several clams ,
Gardens where swans were sleeping , sand heaps with conches lying about ,
Gardens with floors showered with dropping flowers ,
And Rivers which were pushing good dust of gold and became very happy.
1933. Old buffaloes after eating awns of paddy were standing with rice milk,
Flowing from the corner of their mouth and were jumping with their legs in to the water ways,
The Chel and Kayal fishes were jumping in the river with bees flying from honey dripping flowers,
And in the river water that was rushing , the red legged she swans who were similar to ladies
Were dipping in the river and seeing all this they crossed the long Kosala kingdom.
1934. Those three who were wearing ornaments shining like sun ,
After crossing that prosperous country which had wealth giving fields
Reached river Ganges which was always surrounded ,
By sages who were greatly learned in Vedas and which had broad waves.
1935.All the sages who were living on the shores of the divine river Ganges ,
Became overjoyed thinking that they have already got the waves to salvation,
And with great anxiety came to see Rama who had graceful sages.
1936.The sweet taste of the enjoyment by five senses of ladies,
Which cannot be easily understood by others and also the God,
Who can be understood by Vedas of the musical form,
Were seen by them and their mind became very happy.
1937.Those sages who held the staff made of Bamboo,
Ate by their eyes the lustrous one with lotus eye ,
Like the nectar churned of the sweet ocean of milk,
Welcomed him , praised him sang about him and danced.
1938.Like the parents who daily think of their children,
Who have gone away from home and were searching for them,
Becoming extremely joyous , when they come back at last,
The sages received them and took them to hall of sacrifice .
1939.Those sages bathed them with the tears flowing from their eyes,
Made them wear the garland of the sweet words they were speaking ,
And offered them the nectar called love for them eat ,
And took away all the tiredness they felt by walking long distance .
1940.They then brought very clean vegetables and fruits from forest,
And looking at Rama told “oh Rama who is better than all people,
Please take bath in the great waters of Ganges, grow fire,
Complete your rituals and then eat this food.
1941. Rama held Sita who was like a lamp for the ladies by his red hands ,
Took bath in Ganges , Which was made by the washing of his own feet,
By Lord Brahma using the water in the water pot ,
When he was trying to remove the sorrow of devas.
1942.The Ganges which forever lives, saluted Rama with her hand and told,
“all those in this earth wash away their sins which can never be ever destroyed,
Through me and today , I also have washed away my sins through you,
Who gave me and so I am completely saved,” she said.
1943.Rama who had long hands like the trunk of elephant with cruel eyes.
Who has the matted tuft through which the white Ganga flows,
Took bath in her when Sita who was great in her virtue was seeing him,
And looked like Lord Shiva who wears on his head the moon’s crescent.
1944.Due the waves of Ganges which lashes Rama who was taking bath in her,
Looked like he was taking rest with Goddess Lakshmi with thin waist and sits on lotus,
On the silver coloured ocean of milk on the Adhi Sesha once upon a time.
1945.Sita who had feet as soft as the red cotton with the Vanchi creeper,
Getting defeated by her very thin waist , with swan getting defeated by her walk ,
Played with Kayal fishes under water , hiding her lotus like soft feet.
1946.That Ganges though she had been living in the tough matted hair,
Of the god of gods for a very long time did not have the perfume of.
The garland of erukku flowers and that of Ixora flowers , from head of lord Shiva
And had the scent of fresh flowers and that of musk from the pretty hair of Sita.
1947. Due to the white foam rising above the river ,
The lady Mandakini appeared to have white hair ,
And considering the lack of female company to Sita,
Acted like mother maid mother and extended her arm like waves and waved.
1948. The long black hairs of Sita which looked like crowd of clouds ,
Went down and was whirling with the tide there and looked like,
The black waters of Yamuna which mixes with river Ganges,
And rises above as the whorls which were moving.
1949.When in the Ganges where whirls are made and rise up from there,
And in its white water in which fishes which were like her eyes were jumping,
Sita was going down and coming up and appeared like ,
Goddess Lakshmi dipping in the water of the ocean of milk.
1950.Due to the red divine feet of Rama touching it ,
Ganges which removes the cruel sins of all people,
Was able to touch the entire body of the holy Rama,
And will all the world which dips in her, would ever go to hell?
1951.In the ghats of Ganges after taking bath in her scented water ,
Rama reached the hermitage of those Vedic saints ,
He saluted the god principle which can only be realized by very wise people ,
And after saluting the fire of Yagna became ,
Dear to the wise sages and a suitable guest for them.
1952.When the devas with lot of difficulty brought the nectar ,
He made them to eat it by saying , “You please eat it “,
Without him eating it , but he ate the very soft leafy vegetable,
For the people whose mind is good , there is nothing ,
Good or bad in the service done by others.
Chapter on Guha
(Near Ganges they are met by the hunter king of Sringaberipura. He became theitr devotee and slave. When Rama and Sita were sleeping on the grass, Guha and Lakshmana stood guard without shutting their eyes. Guha helps them to cross River Ganges an tells them , that he would come with Rama declines the offer and starts walking towards Chithra koota mountains.
In Valmiki Ramayana there is a scene in which Guha helps Rama , Lakshmana and Sita make their hair matted.Sumanthra and Guha take leave of Rama at this time.)
1953-1961. At that time , the leader of one thousand boats ,
Who is an expert in war named Guha, who has,
Been running boats in Ganges for a very long time,
Who has mountain like soldiers and who has a bow which kills enemies,
Who has a drum called “Thudi” , who maintains hunting dogs ,
Who has a huge feet covered by slippers made by leather,
Who is very black like the darkness of night ,
Who is followed by his large army and has a thunder like spear,
Who has an army which has horn like musical instruments ,
The drum called thuthari , conch , the high sounding drums , a drum called Parai.
Who has an red coloured arrow which is like an emerging leaf ,
Who is head of boats , who is surrounded by relatives ,
Who are as strong as elephants in rut , who wears on his thigh a dress called Kazham,
Who is the great fame of one who knows the depth of Ganges ,
Who wears a red hanging dress tied to his hips ,
Who has tied on his hips a chain made of the tail of tigers ,
Who wears a chain made of shells(chogi) like the teeth ,
Who has a heroic anklet which appears like stones arranged together ,
Who has hair which looks like darkness stitched together,
Who has eye brows which are like the well dried fruit of Aali plant,
Who has very long straight hairs on his forearm which are as black ,
Like the piece of palm wood , Who had a very wide chest resembling stone,
Who has a black body similar to the night applied with oil,
Who has lustrous blood stained sword tied to his waist,
Who has a look of the eye similar to poisonous snake which makes others shiver,
Who talks with out proper sequence like mad people ,
Who has a strong hip that is like the Vajrayudha of Indra,
Who has eaten meat and fish which increases his strength and has a face bereft of smile,
Who looks like a piece of fire even when he is not angry,
Who has a very loud voice which makes even Himalayas scared,
And who lives in a town called Srungiberapura which is on the banks of river Ganges,
Came to see Rama carrying along honey as well as fish and reached there,
1961.After making the hunters who came with him stand aside ,
After keeping away the bow and arrow which kills enemies,
After removing the sword from his hip and with ,
A very truthful and very pure mind and with love towards Rama ,
Guha reached the entrance of the saintly hermitage.
1962.Even before Guha announced himself Lakshmana reached near him,
And asked ,”who are you?” and Guha saluted Lakshmana with love,
And said “Oh God , I am your slave like dog who is a hunter ,
Who drives boats to cross river Ganges and I came to salute your holy feet.”
(Guha is under the impression, that Lakshmana is Rama)
1964. That younger brother told him, “wait here” and entered the hermitage,
And after saluting the great Rama said, “Oh king , to see you a man has come,
Who is pure in mind , who has more love than the mother ,
Who is the lord of boats that travel in Ganges with lashing waves ,
And his name is Guha and he has came along with large crowd of relatives.”
1965.Rama liking Guha said “Oh Lakshmana , please bring him near me”.
And that cultured one said to Guha “Please come” and he with great love ,
Entered speedily and became happy on seeing the pretty eyed Rama ,
Saluted him with his black hair touching the earth and stood there,
Bending his body and hiding his mouth with his palm.
1966.Rama told him, “please take your seat here” but he did not sit,
Due to innate humility and with great love told Rama that,
“I have brought for your food honey as well as cleaned fish,
What may be you intention?” and Rama with a soft smile,
Saw all the sages with great penance and started telling him.
1967.”They are valuable and are giving me happiness and ,
Have been brought with great love in the mind and so,
They are even superior to the nectar of the great devas.
And anything that is brought with love are definitely pure.
And they are suitable to receive by us who do penance,
And please coinsider that I have eaten them sweetly.”
1968.That Rama who is like a lion further told him,
“We would stay in the hermitage for night and would like ,
To cross river Ganges tomorrow and so you go back to your town,
Along with your relations , spend the night there happily .
And please do come tomorrow morning with your boats.”
1969. When this was told by Rama who is the colour of cloud,
Guha who had very
great love for him told .
“Oh Lord who owns the entire earth and
rules there ,
I am only a thief who has not uprooted my eyes,
After seeing you like this and I am not able to go away from you,
After seeing you in this state and so I will be here and do you service.”
1970.Rama who had a bow wearing the garland of victory heard ,
The opinion of his and after looking at Sita and also after,
Looking at the face of his brother and said , “he has everlasting love to me”,
And with eyes opening with mercy told , “Oh friend,
Who is sweeter than all things, stay here with me.”
1971.Guha saluted his feet with ebbing joy and summoned ,
His army which was as wide as an ocean and after ordering them,
To provide security to the hermitage , held in his hand his strong bow,
Tied the sword and also holding very sharp arrows ,
Shouted like the thunderous clouds and stood protecting them.
1972.When Guha asked Lakshmana , “Oh Sir , please tell me ,
The reason for you to leave Ayodhya.” And when the sorrowful,
Lakshmana explained to him and Guha became greatly sorrowful,
On hearing it and with both eyes shedding tears like a stream he said,
“Alas , though the great lady earth did penance to be ruled by Rama,
She was not lucky to get it “ and later he went out of the hermitage and stayed there.
1973. King Dasaratha who chased away his enemies who were like darkness,
Who won over all directions , who stayed at the top and ruled all over the world,
And established his fame , who stayed in the minds of all daily and showered his grace ,
Who was dead and who was a great hero in war , Lord Sun disappeared.
1974. In the evening time of the day, after completing their evening rituals,
The heroic Rama and Sita who was like the nectar taken from ocean of milk,
Slept on the earth , in the bed made of grasses and their brother ,
Till it became morning without shutting his eyes and holding the huge bow,
Went on giving constant protection to both of them.
1975.The chief of the boats Guha with a group of hunters who were like elephants ,
With his bow properly stringed and arrow ready to be shot ,
Stood there with a mind burning out of very great sorrow ,
Without sleeping for the entire night and watched the brother ,
Who was standing guard the entire night without any sleep ,
And also seeing the way Rama slept on the bare earth, like a mountain, with a stream of tears.
1976.The Sun who was never born like telling the numberless people on earth,
That death is certain for all of them , had set the previous day evening,
And next day as if telling them that , the birth has to take place this way rose up.
And reminded them that pleasure of heaven are not permanent and should be forgotten.
1977.Seeing the white rays of Sun, who comes riding on his chariot ,
The red lotus flowers which were born in red slushy mud opened up.
And the lotus like face of Sita who was red and like the Vanchi climber,
Opened up on seeing the black sun who was different from the red one.
1978.Rama who carried the extremely fearsome bow on his shoulders,
After completing all the morning rituals with great satisfaction,
Went followed by Brahmins and looking at Guha who loved him,
Like a friend who is his slave told him “Please speedily,
Bring the boats of good quality so that we can depart.”
1979.After hearing the words of Rama , Guha with the constant flow,
Of stream like tears , with a trembling soul and unable to part ,
From the holy feet of Rama , fell down and saluted Rama,
Of the colour of blue lotus, Flower of Poovai , sea as well as the clouds ,
Along with Sita and started telling all his thoughts.
1980”.Oh Rama who wears the flower garland trimmed by scissors,
My people do not know deceit and our home is only this forest ,
We do have any shortages , we also posses great strength,
And we would do service to you in the most proper way.
Please think us who are your devotees as your relations at this time,
And please stay here happily here for a very long time.”
1981. “We have honey , millet flour , we have meat which even devas would eat,
And our soul is purely meant to do you service and you have time,
To play with the goddess and spend your time, Ganges is there for playing water sports,
And as long as I am alive you can stay here with joy and happiness.”
1982.”We have leather cloth as soft as cotton cloth , we have very many varieties of tasty food,
We have cots looking like cradles which are made of ropes, we have storage racks ,
We have huts to live , we posses strong legs to get you anything you need with speed,
We have strong arms which hold bows which can kill all those who stop us,
And we would bring anything you need , even if it is in the sky above.”
1983.”I have hunters holding the bow who are stronger than Devas ,
Who obey all my orders who are five lakhs in number,
And Rama if you stay even one day in our huts , we would,
Not have better days in our lives and all of us would have won.”
1984.Rama after hearing all that , with great mercy smiled with white luster ,
And said to him, “Oh valorous one , we would take bath in several sacred waters,
And salute and serve pure sages and before the time limit of our life in the forest,
And would come sweetly back and be with you for some time.”
1985-1986.Guha who understood his mind , speedily went away from there,
And brought long boats and Rama , the lotus eyed one looked at,
All the sages and Brahmins and said, “give me leave” and after their reply ,
Along with Sita with forehead like crescent and his brother , got in to the boat,
Told Guha” now row it fast “ and he who was like the body and soul of Rama,
Rowed speedily the boat , in the Ganges with breaking waves ,
And that boat went speedily like a swan , making those sages on the banks sad
Who melted with emotions like a wax melts in a raging fire.
1987. Sita with milk like voice , Rama who was like the Sun,
Went in the boat breaking that holy water , sprayed water,
At each other and played and that boat went speedily ,
Like a crab with big legs , with the huge oars having leather fronts pushing it forward
1988.That high ganges with sand hills which appeared like huge breasts ,
Over which sandal paste has been applied, with the gems in it throwing luster,
With her long hands , which are its clear waves which were shining ,
With the luster of red scented lotus flowers , carried the boat safely to the other shore.
1989.The Lord after reaching the other shore looked at Guha and asked,
“Please tell me the way to Chithrakoota.” And Guha who due to his devotion,
Even was prepared to give his soul to Rama , fell at the feet of Rama ,
And told, “ oh great one, this dog wants to tell you something.”
1990.”If I who am like a dog is blessed to be permitted to come with you ,
I would be able to make the way very proper for you. I have the strength ,
To bring you, very good vegetables, fruits and honey , very properly.
I would be able to make you places to live wherever we go and,
Without leaving you even a second, I would be able to protect you.”
1991.”I would chase and make the evil things on the way to four directions ,
And I would be able to point out forests where only pure animals live.
I would search and bring anything that is required by you at any time,
And I also have the strength to do all the jobs that you command me to do.
Apart from that I have the capacity to walk in the forest path even at mid night.”
1992.”Oh Rama who has huge shoulders which make you capable to do wrestling,
I would dig the mountain and make it into a path and I would dig out good eatable roots,
I would be able to travel in hard paths and bring life giving water from places where it is there,
I have an army with bows to assist me and I would not be scared of anything ,
And I would live with you always not parting from your flower like feet.”
1993.”Oh Rama who has a matchless chest , if it is agreeable to your mind,
I can bring my army also with me and would be able to live with you always .
If some enemy who wants to harm you approaches, I would fight with them,
Even before you do and give away my life after killing them all .
I would not earn any bad name and I would definitely come with you.”
1994.The pure one after hearing all the words told by Guha said in reply,
“”You are like my soul and Lakshmana is your younger brother ,
And this Sita who has this pretty forehead is your sister in law,
And this world which is surrounded by the sea is all yours,
And I am also one who would obey all your commands.”
1995.”Pleasure would come only if there is sorrow and that pleasure
Would be there after this parting, which is definitely a sorrow.
Do not think and worry that in between there is a parting like this.
Earlier we were only four brothers and we who are in endlessly,
Growing love , have from now on , become five brothers.”
1996.”Oh Guha who has lustrous greatly sharpened spear ,
Your brother Lakshmana would be there always with me ,
To see that I do not get any sorrow and so you go back,
To your country and rule it , like I would rule it ,
And when I am again coming to the northern direction,
I would come to your place and I would never fail in my words.”
1997.”Your younger brother Bharata is looking after Ayodhya and other places,
And if you come with me who is there to protect your town and people ?please tell.
When you say your relatives , are they not my relatives also?
So do not become greatly sad and look after these relatives of mine properly.”
1998.Guha who cannot go against the orders of Rama , with others telling,
“He has become greatly sick due to parting with Rama, “ took leave,
And Sita who was as pretty as peacock wearing ornaments , Rama ,
And his younger brother went for a long distance , in that forest dense with trees.
Chapter on entry in to forest.
(Rama shows the special scenes in the forest to Sita and walking playfully they reach the hermitage of BHardwaja and who requests them to stay with him. Politely declining they walk towards Chithrakoota mountain . They reach river Yamuna cross it be building a catamaran. Then they reach a desert which though harsh became cool to receive them. They reach Chitrakoota mountain.
Rama has some harsh words against Kaikeyi in this stage , There is no mention of any desert in Valmiki Ramayana )
1999. Similar to the mind of the base ones who make love to the prostitutes,
It is not clear whether wetness exists in the earth in the early summer and
The gentle Rama reached the forest and immediately the cold mixed with nectar,
Spread everywhere showing the signs of the coming of the clouds with great pride.
2000.The sun was shining its spreading rays like the young moon light which is cool,
With the dense trees providing shade , with rain from clouds giving drops like dews,
With the young breeze from south coming along with the fragrance ,
They went by the sweet path where groups of peacocks were dancing.
2001”.Oh Lady who wears garland by her mind , who is like the deer as well as the young peacock,
Now the Indragopa beetles waking from their sleep would start spreading everywhere,
And heaps of flowers shed by the ixora plants would shine in the evening light ,
And both together would resemble like costly gems studded to pure gold necklaces.”
2002”Oh lady on whom ornaments are natural, With young bees becoming joyous songsters,
The sound of the rain fall acting like drums , the joy filled peacocks became shy,
And they opened their wings which are normally folded and when they are dancing ,
They saw by using the several eyes on their wings , they saw your form within them,
And you are going to see many such sights , while we walk.” Rama told.
2003.”Oh Sita who has body with perfume and softness of the pretty new leaves of mango,
The pretty bird with red mouth was spreading red light , and was sitting ,
On the pretty Kandhal flower and were caressing that flower and to me,
It looked like that you were holding the pretty bird on your hands.”
2004”.Oh lady who had eyes which had the power of the spear anointed with ghee ,
And which does not limit to the hands but goes up , when the peacock and young deer,
Seeing the softness that is spread all over your body and also seeing your eyes,
Perhaps thought that you belong to their species , for you can see many of them coming here.”
2005.”In the surroundings where big flowers had fallen from the kuraa tree .
Which is in full of flowering and from the rain of flowers from the bidava trees,
A peacock which had risen from sleep with its feathers , its peahen,
Thinking that it made love to another peahen and has entered in to a love tiff. You can see that.”
2006.”Oh Sita who is like Arundathi , Oh lady who is sweeter than nectar
The Asoka of the forest which bears the gold coloured cherunthi flowers with close petals ,
Shine because of the black joyful bees which settle on them and you can see ,
It is similar to the burning fire from the coal , which is blown by the goldsmith.”
2007.”Oh lady who has young erect breasts, who has the prettiness of a picture ,
One peacock which has fainted saw the bud of Kanthal plant by its eyes,
Thought it is a snake seeing its nature of holding of the plant ,
And thought the jasmine buds with honey was its slow smile ,please see it.”
2008.You also see the strong tiger cub that lives on the mountains,
The young elephant besides the she elephant , as night has fallen down and got chained,
The young calf which are in the homes of cowherds ,
And several other beings which are playing with each other .
2009.”Oh lady, whose hair has been perfumed by smoke of Akil,
Several flower branches whose ornaments are the smiling flowers,
Are like the young ladies with budding breasts bathing in the ghats,
And you can see them dipping in the river dressed in the silk like waves.
2010.”Oh lady who has a pretty forehead which resembles the bow,
Some bees drilling in to the fully open golden coloured flowers,
Of the Konga tree , after drinking the honey are seen to be not singing,
But sleeping and they look like blue gems studded on a shining gold plate.”
2011.”The black male bees with wings , due to its consuming lot of honey,
And due to that not able to open its eyes and see and not able ,
To find a way by which they can travel with closed eyes like a blind man,
Are going behind the female bees which sing and proceeds, please see them.”
2012.”Oh lady who walks softly like a swan , the golden coloured Vengai and Konga trees,
As if they have learn the art of decoration from virgin girls , are attaching,
New soft flowers on your forehead along with hair and this looks like,
They are loose untied fresh flowers which are soft, please see them.”
2013.”Oh lady who is sweeter than deva maidens , like the crowd of brown moles ,
On your breasts which are decorated by pearl ornaments, when the scented,
Breeze blows from the south disturbs the pollen grains from the attractive scented flowers
They rise up and are closely scattered in between stones, please see them.”
2014.”Oh lady with a voice like koel , possibly thinking that your soft feet,
Would not be able to walk in the forest path, the crowd of trees,
Are scattering flowers on all paths and you also please see ,
That the creepers with flowers perhaps being shamed ,
By your thin waists , keep on moving .”
2015,”Oh lady with eyes similar to sword , please see ,the ornaments that you wear,
On your flower like feet are like the pretty bees which live on the new leaves,
The clouds are like your dark and scented hair which can hide everything ,
And please them as the parts of young bamboo which are like your shoulders.”
2016.This forest where crowds of deer , peacock and koels travel,
With crowds of branches with flowers and buds of the Kulirntha valli creeper ,
Which are of several colours and which are faultless and are similar ,
To the picturesque curtains which are again like fire.”
2017-2018.That Rama who had huge shoulders decorated with gold ornaments,
After saying all this and playing sweetly along with the good Sita , he proceeded in the forest path,
And at that time the Sun reached the western side and Rama then said to Sita ,
“Is this not the Chithrakoota mountain where sages who have won over their fate live”,
And at that time, one great sage called Bharadwaja with a love ,
Coming out of ebbing joy which makes the mind full said,
“My long time penance has borne fruit today “ and came out
To receive Rama who is the doctor for sickness of birth death cycle.
2019.He held an Umbrella a straight staff as well as a water pot,
He was having a huge matted hair , covered himself with a deer skin,
Had good dress made of bark , had a form in which his hair hangs ,
Had good character so that he protected Dharma and ,
Had a toungue over which all the four Vedas danced.
2020.His only wealth was raising the fire which is red in colour,
And he was Brahmin who protected all souls created by Brahma like his won,
And if he is told, “create all the seven worlds” he could create them ,
Just by his thought and did not need to be born from ,
The lotus flower that grew from the belly of Lord Vishnu.
2021.AS soon that sage came , Rama threw flowers at him,
And saluted him three times and that primeval sage , hugged him,
And with a mind disturbed thinking that he had to hug Rama in this form,
Stood seeing down with tears flowing from his eyes.
2022,”Oh Rama who holds a bow that can destroy your enemies,
Who has the capacity to rule this earth for a very long time ,
Instead of doing that why have you come to the forest with caves,
Where the sages live and wearing the dress of a sage ,
That does not suit you along with Lakshmana?” he asked
2023.Rama then related all the incidents that had happened so that,
The sage could understand them and hearing that , the very good sage said,
“Would such a thing happen at this time?” and grieved a lot and further said ,
“Alas the great lady earth has not done great penance”
2024.”How is it that my friend seeing you who is his matchless son , along with Sita
Who has coral like red mouth which speak pure words and who is like a peacock,
After saying “You both rule quickly this earth surrounded by the ocean” and immediately ,
Again said, “Go to the forest blessed with tall trees”, and still manages to keep himself alive?”
2025.”Does not sorrow and pleasure come in life alternatively?,
Alas , these are the result of the good act and bad acts that we do,
And because of that I know that no purpose is served by my sorrowing about it”
Said the sage and then hugged Rama, and along with him entered his hermitage.
2026.After entering the hermitage , he gave them proper places top stay ,
And gave them palatable fruits as well as vegetables , told them sweet words,
With very great love and showered his grace on the soul like sons of his friend,
And those sons also became very delighted by his hospitality.
2027. All of them stayed there and in the morning that expert in Vedas,
Thinking that “If we live with him we would get great salvation” ,
Did all that Rama needed sweetly and looking at Rama told,
“Oh Rama who has a chest covered with freshly harvested flowers,
There is a need for me to tell you about something.”
2028-2029.”There is plenty of water here and also there is plenty ,
Of flowers, big fruits and vegetables. Here bad acts would go away,
And there is no dearth of good acts and so you all can stay with me,
For to those who want to concentrated penance , there is no,
Better place to live and also in this place the river Ganges joins,
With river Yamuna as well as river Saraswathi and that is why,
I am not going away from here, as these waters are sacred,
Even to Lord Brahma and its greatness is that, such sages,
Like me are prepared to stay here and so you also stay here.”
2030.When the sage who had undertaken great penance told like this with love ,
Rama told him, “Oh sage who has a great mind due to great penance done by you,
This place is not far away from the Kosala kingdom with great water resources,
And if I stay here , all the people of Kosala would soon reach here.”
2031.”Oh Lord Rama , what you say is true, The mountain Chitrakuta,
Which even the devas salute is about ten Kadhams (12 km) from this garden.
It is sweeter than even heaven and you please stay there with great love.”
2032Saying this the sage bid them leave to go with great love ,
And they after saluting the holy feet of the sage crossed,
The land of cowherds with flute made of kondrai and Bamboo,
And also crossed the peak of the mountain and by the time,
The sun with its red rays attained the middle of the sky ,
Saw the river Yamuna where calves of deer drink water.
2033.Those three who became coated with dust due to walking long distance ,
Became glad on seeing river Yamuna and knowing the rituals to be done,
Bathed in that river , ate roots along with thin fruits ,
Drank water and Rama asked Lakshmana , “How di we cross the river?”
2034.That Lakshmana cut some banboos which can bend and using ,
The manai creepers made a great catamaran and on that ,
Rama with shoulders like huge stone boulders sat with his sweet lady,
And Lakshmana crossed the river swimming with his two hands.
2035.The younger brother of the best man of Ayodhya which has,
Fields irrigated by juice of sugarcane flowing away from factories,
Used his shoulders which were like Mandhara mountains ,
To swim and the displaced water went towards sea in the east swiftly,
And the water displaced by the catamaran went towards sea in the west.
2036. They who were wearing the pretty apparel made by wooden bark,
Crossed the river Yamuna and reached its other shore and after ,
Walking a very long distance they reached a huge desert without roots or stems,
Where the land was burnt and made even the mind thinking about it hot.
2037. As soon as Rama thought that Sita would not be able to cross it,
The Sun who is very hot cooled his rays like that of moon, the king of stars,
And the dried plants in that hot desert again produced green leaves,
And all the very hot surroundings became forest of lotus flowers.
2038.The sharp dried plant like stones which appeared to have been ,
Planted in the fire , became cold like flowers which have been transplanted,
They also had moisture and the broken and thrown out plants ,
Gave out young leaves and the seething sword serpent ,
Started giving out nectar from its teeth and became joyous.
2039.Clouds came in large number and thundered and gave ,
Cool rain drops to the earth and the hunters who were having bows,
Did not cause harm to the souls of sages and young kids of the deer,
Started drinking milk from tigresses which hugged and stood near them,
2040.The serpents which used to live in mountain caves with burnt bellies,
Which were angry did not suffer any sorrow and felt as if they were ,
Lying in water with tides and the bamboo which grew up in the great forest,
Which had earlier got burnt along with its roots , now became soft like ,
The shoulders of hunter women who had pearl like teeth.
2041.The grass which spread on the ground were like a green carpet ,
Spread on the ground and peacocks waving their feathers , like dames,
Practiced dance on both its sides , the bees followed these peacocks ,
Like Pana musicians and sang soulful music.
2042.Fruits though it was not time to them to ripen , ripened ,
And big root crops though the roots for their growth were absent,
Grew in to a large size in the earth and the flower laden branches ,
Became similar to pretty ladies and flowered and shined.
Is there a penance giving pleasure besides good character?
2043.The huts where hunters used to live became like hermitages of saints,
And on both sides the Indragopa bees which were like red gems appeared.
And in all near by trees male koels sang calling females who have left them,
And the Kurundha trees gave rise to new growth similar to base of peacock feathers.
2044.That forest then was like the burning mind of ladies ,
With scented hair who had left their soul like lovers in battle field tents
And in places where people go to earn money with a promise ,
That they would return quickly and it became like ,
The mind of those ladies becoming cool when those lovers,
Wearing heroic anklets had come back and joined them.
2045.They crossed slowly that desert which had got over its blemishes,
And they saw the Cithrakuta mountains which was tall like a male elephant,
Looking at a cloud hiding the moon and thinking it as its female elephant,
Who had its baby in her stomach and extended its palm tree like trunk towards the sky.
Chapter on Chithrakuta mountains.
(There is a great description of the Chitrakoota mountains is given by Rama to Sita .Lakshmana builds a hut for them with a separate enclosure for Sita. They start living in it.
In Valmiki Ramayana the description is very small and Lakshmana builds a hermitage . No mention for a separate enclosure for Sita is made in the book. For satisfying Vastu devathas Rama sacrifices a black deer . After entering the hermitage a sacrifice to Vaiswedevas also is done.
2046 That Rama who is recognized by the great devas as well as ourselves,
Who looks at us both equally , Who is faultless , who has a merciful eyes.
And who is the pure one who has one thousand eyes explained and showed to,
The daughter of Janaka who is like a young peacock, the nature,
Of That Chithrakuta mountains where sandal wood trees grow densely .
2047.”Oh lady , who has eyes which are similar to sword and spear made in to one,
And who is like peacock , on the mountain side where cardamom and Thamala plants grow,
Entwining each other, there are the rich black clouds as well as elephants which both are,
Of long nature and are found sleeping after they have drunk lot of water,
And it is difficult to differentiate between both of them, and you may please see this.”
2048. “Oh lady , with red lines in your eye which are like the swords ,
And one who has koel like voice, please see the jumping mountain goat ,
Which jumps from the top of the big mountain and please see that,
Like the very clear Vedas , due to getting mixed with shine of emerald ,
They look more like the green horses.”
2049.”Oh lady who is like the youthful peacock and who wears pearl necklaces ,
Over her breasts , the huge pythons which have kept in their huge belly , huge elephants,
In rut , have taken out their soft skins and hung there over all bamboos,
Which keep on shaking from there itself and they like the white cloth banners,
Hung I n the mansions of Ayodhya surrounded by gardens , please see them.”
2050. “Oh nectar given by the ocean of milk and not of salt ,
In the mountain valleys of coral gems and in other places,
The musk deer waving its white tail are speedily running about ,
And they appear like white streams falling from coral mountains ,please see them.”
2051. The elephant with great matchless flow of rut , attacked by the angry lion,
Dies and falls down , the gems which come out of the blood flow of that elephant,
Are shining like the gems fallen down and coated with kumkum ,
From their cut necklaces , when the ladies have love tiff with their lovers .Please see them.
2052.When in the very big mountain , moon came on the top peak of that mountain,
With the luster of the very big gems which shine like a lamp with extended wick,
The great white stream which falls from that mountain and is like the Ganges,
Falling on the pretty matted hair of Lord Shiva who travels on a young bull may be seen by you.
2053.When the elephant touches the water of the stream, they are sprayed ,
With gems by that stream and those elephants from whom water of rut ,
Flows like torrential rain , near the round vengai flowers ,
They look like they have golden gem studded ornament on their head and this may be seen by you.
2054.Oh lady , just like the saying that a single thread is carrying two compressed pots of gems,
Having a very thin bent waist and huge pretty young breasts and a look like a flower branch,
The luxuriously growing sandalwood garden due to its growing up till the sky,
Is preventing the moon from entering in to it and crossing it. Be pleased to see that.
2055.One playful male elephant which had tusks like the crescent of the moon .
Due to its having great love to its lady elephant in the advanced stage of pregnancy,
Is taking the scented honey collected by bees which get their sweet voice from leaves,
From the mountain caves and offering it and asking the she elephant drink it, You may see that also.”
2056.”Even if Lord Vishnu who protects enters in to illusion and hides himself ,
From the great Yogis who have controlled their senses and do not feel joy,
He would not hide himself and like that though the horse faced Kinnaras,
Hide themselves , they would be visible as a reflection on marble stones.”
2057.Oh lady who is prettier than dancing peacock and whose voice ,
Is sweeter than that of Koel, look at those singing kinnara couple,
Who make the angry gypsy ladies who have love tiff with their husbands,
And who avoid making love to them , to look at them with great love .
2058.Oh lamp like lady who has eyebrows like the bent bow of heroes,
When the bamboos dash on climbing plants , the honey comes out of the wax,
And this makes the holes dug by the gypsy men who hear Kolli pan,
Completely filled up with sweet honey and you may also see it.
2059.Oh lady who is the soul of one’s body like the feminine quality which never leaves you,
When a female monkey due to great love after taking bath with the male monkey,
Sprays water on it , then that male monkey climbs on a huge mountain,
And sprays back the water from a very big cloud on it, You may please see it.
2060.Oh lady who is like a lamp lit on the wick made by great cotton and filled with ,
The ghee of the nectar of the devas , You may see huge rocks of ruby gems ,
Which have the hot luster which breaks the darkness , which are stable,
In one place and which are in the form of a circle that never changes.
2061.”oh goddess like lady who showed the nature of virtue to Arundathi ,
Due to large number of blue bees sitting and getting up on flower filled branches of Vengai tree ,
They dip down and then rise up and shower golden flowers ,
And they look like those who bend and salute and rise up.”
2062”.Oh soft new leaf who has bow like lustrous forehead ,
And shining ornaments The gypsy maids who guard the field o THinai,
On the top of the big mountain and who have eyes like the murderous spears,
The red Kuruvindha gems which they throw on the birds
Coming to eat thinai, are falling down like stars in the sky. Please see that”
2063.”The huge budle of smoke that is going up in the sky due to ,
The burning of thick Akil logs cut by the axe by the valorous people
Who hold the very strong bow mixes with the smoke from sacrificial altar,
Of the great Brahmins and are moving in the sky like black mountain peaks.Please se them.”
2064”.Oh lady who is like peacock whose waist seems to break ,
Due to the heavy burden of her huge hair , scented by civet cream,
Just opened flowers , perfumes , smoke of akil and musk,
See the sparkling gems in the dried forest streams which are like stars.”
2065.Due to the Vidhyadhara maidens having love tiff with her husbands,
The step marks of their small feet applied with the faultless red cotton juice ,
Are vanishing in the ruby stones on the mountain surrounded by clouds,
But are very clearly visible on the long green emerald stones.Please see it.
2066.”Oh help of my life whose belly button is similar to the whorl made of gold,
The scented flowers of Karpaga tree removed from their black sand like hair
By the heavenly maidens who took bath after removing their make up ,
Is going down along with best gems through the forest rivers. Please see.”
2067.”Please see a monkey which took away the drum kept for guarding ,
By the mountain people who were wearing heroic anklets and playing it,
Also see a young gypsy girl who caught hold of the moon and feeling,
That it is wrong for this moon to have blemish and is trying to wipe it away.”
2068.In the enclosure created by the densely growing Kurukathi climbers,
One lady who had parted from her husband was sleeping , and her burnt dark,
Bed made of freshly produced leaves was trying to tell us , the sorrow,
A lady has in parting with her darling lover for many days. Please see it.
2069.Oh lady who wears soft ornaments and whose very thought gives me,
Happiness similar to taking nectar , In the swings tied on the side of,
Honey dripping Vengai trees as well as Konga trees , Where the gypsies swing
Singing the rural song loving, hearing which the Akana animals come rushing, please see it.
2070.”Oh sweet one who has red lips similar to Indragopa bees and the flowers of Murukku tree,
The drops of water of the stream which is coming lashing its waves , due to heavenly ,
Maidens playing in it gets mixed with scented products , sandal paste , Kumkum ,
And also scented things given by Karpaga tree , and gives out perfume . Please see it.
2071. Oh creeper with pretty breasts, Making one tell that they are small tins made of red gold,
Over which pictures that have been drawn by red paint and are being supported by a branch,
The shining sun has reached the top of the pretty golden mountain ,
And please see that is looks like the mountain is having a golden crown.
2072.”Oh best among ladies, on the stone in the mountain looks as if,
The small red beads are spread all over because the bamboo groves,
Are showering these lustrous gems on them and they are lying everywhere,
And you may see that they look like stars spread on the reddish sky.”
2073.Oh parrot like lady who talks more sweetly than the flute with small holes ,
And the cool sweet sound raised by Yaazh over which strings are tied ,
The closely planted murukka tree which is fully covered with open red flowers ,
Makes it appear as if the red fire is burning all over the forest , please see.
2074.Oh peacock like lady who has hands which appear as if bangles are put in,
Kandhal(gloriosa flower),please see that huge elephant calves,
Take water from the stream in their long leather bag with holes ,
And pour in to the water pots of great sages whose age cannot be measured.
2075.Oh peacock like lady whose eyes are like cut tender mangoes ,
Please see the merciful male monkey, hanging out its long bent tail , so that,
The sages who have shriveled eyes and heart which is sorrowing ,
Can find their way in the mountain paths , so that they can hold it and walk.
2076” .Oh lady who has broad hips which are no comparison to the hood of snake ,
And the seat of the chariot , The peacocks having thin feathers on their head,
Suitable to the pretty chest with the sacred thread of the Brahmins, fan and
Bend their long feathers so that the fire in the yagna fire place burning properly, please see .
2077.Oh lady having waving long hair ,who is the ornament to other peacock like ladies
Please see , the monkeys who by their nature makes thema fruits fall , searching for and sorting,
Cotton as well as silk , making them in to threads and giving them to the Brahmins
Who do good to the world so that they can wear it as sacred thread.
2078. “Oh lady whose form is an ideal model for all other ladies, see that,
The male monkeys with love bring big mangoes, jack fruit and big fruits of Banana
AS well as the roots dug out by the black boars and giving it to the saints.
2079.”oh lady see that the birds which are similar to your pretty hands carrying ,
Rice awns, Thinai awns , millet awns , beans and the soft rice produced by the,
Bamboos that bend to the sages who have driven away lies entering,
Inside every hermitage with great mercy and love.”
2080.The cruel pythons which are capable of lifting and then swallowing .
The elephants which trumpet like thunder , like those who have understood,
The meaning of great books , keeping its strength under control ,
Are seen helping the saints with matted hair climb the mountain,
By lying like stair steps on their mountain path. Please see that.
2081.In the mountain where water springs flow , to give salvation to those,
Who have done great penance and are the good people showering tears out of love,
Like an over turned water pot, The golden planes is covering the skies,
By going here and there and you may please see them.
2082.Rama the son of Dasaratha who did great penance of truth in the palace ,
Showed the well ornamented Sita all these about the Chitrakoota mountain,
And when the great sages of that great mountain came to receive him,
Saluted them and became guest to those sages of them who have got over past and present Karma,
2083.Lord Vishnu who is the mountain of sun rise wearing a thulasi garland,
For the sake of the destruction of the Rakshasas who were dark like night,
Had sent the powerful wheel for destruction to kill Kalanemi,
And the Sun god similar to that reached the mountain of setting surrounded by gardens.
2084.As soon as the weapon called wheel went and hit the asura called Kalanemi ,
The entire sky became reddish possibly due to the blood that sprang from his body,
And the moon who came out was similar to the teeth of that Asura which came out.
2085.After the sun set the lotus flowers which were showing their faces,
To the pretty ladies , got closed and in the sky like water storages ,
The lily flowers which were like stars opened up.
2086.The male and female monkeys looked at the trees,
The male and female elephants looked at the way to their homes,
The faultless birds looked at the path to their nests,
Rama who was interested in knowledge did the evening rituals.
2087.When the evening neared, many scented flowers closed,
And some faultless scented flowers opened and for Rama,
Lakshmana as well as Sita who was like nectar , the hands,
And their lotus like eyes like the evening lotus flowers closed.
2088.Rama who had come to do penance after the parting of the evening,
Like the sea reaching its on place , along the Sita without waist ,
Reached the hermitage that was constructed by ,
His brother who had a bow that will spit arrows.
2089-2092.After arranging the piece of bamboos in a long row,
And establishing straight logs without bends on them,
And after tying properly the side reams which does not bend down,
And closing over that rows which did not have any bend ,
And covering the roof with leaves of teak wood tree,
And spreading the tall nanal grass all over those leaves,
And later constructing walls on all sides on the bamboos,
And later applying mud over it , and later applying water over it,
And he also made a separate room for the lady of Mithila ,
And for that room he made the walls soft and proper by painting kumkum over ut,
And he also brought gem like stones and pearls and inlaid them on that wall,
And he also decorated that house using peacock feathers,
And he also cut them by a sharp sword and hung them all over ,
And he built a compound wall using young bamboo ,
And he also strew prettily with freshly brought flowers from near the river.
2093.In that hermitage built by his younger brother , that Rama who stays,
In the heart of Lord Brahma , people like us and in all beings we can think of,
In a similar manner and as the great God spirit which never leaves,
Along with Sita, the golden incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi entered.
2094.In that hermitage which can be compared to the mind without illusion,
Great Vedas , the pure ocean of milk and Vaikunta , Rama who has ,
An affection that is difficult to get , became very happy and greatly satisfied.
2095.The flower like tender feet of the daughter of the king of Mithila,
Came walking through very cruel forest and the hands of my faultless brother,
Constructed this hermitage for me proving that ,
To those for whom there is no assistance , there is nothing that they will not get.
2096.After thinking like this , looking at his younger brother ,
Rama asked , “Oh brother who has two mountain like shoulders,
Where did you learn how to construct a hermitage ?”,
And from his eyes which resembled lotus flower, he kept on shedding tears.
2097.Due to the order of the king who gave me the wealth of kingship,
Though I followed to observe the spreading dharma from birth to birth,
And attained the true fame which shines like the Sun, What is the use?.
For I have caused you sorrow for a long time, “Said Rama with sorrow.
2098.AS soon as these words which touched his mind came from Rama,
That younger one with a sorrowful heart told, “Oh my father,
Please examine what I am going to say.The root cause ,
For your sorrow came because you were born earlier, is it not?”
2099.”Let it be like that for nothing can be done about it,
For going away from Dharma is impossible for people like us.”
And Rama further thinking that and seeing the great sorrow in the mind,
Of Lakshmana who had become joyous he decided it wss difficult to console him.
2100,. So Rama again looked at Lakshmana said, “For all types ,
Of wealth there is a limit and what is the destruction ,
Because of this penance in the forest and this penance ,
Would lead us to limitless joy in the other world “ he said.
2101.Rama who had a very strong bow consoled his brother like this,
And kept on doing penance which made even the devas salute him,
And now we will start telling about what happened ,
To the emissaries who were sent by Vasishta of great penance.
Ayodhya Kandam ends