The grieving father, king Dasharatha was gazing at the chariot carrying his beloved son Rama until the dust raised by the wheels of it could be seen. As long as the king was seeing, or longing to see his beloved son, so long did the dust in the earth appear to be rising for the purpose of seeing his son. When Dasharatha, at last realised that the chariot had gone completely beyond human sight and the dust raised by Rama's chariot seen by him was just his imagination, the unfortunate king afflicted by utter dejection, fell insensible on the ground. When Dasharatha fell down, Kausalya his prime wife took her place on his right side to lift him up and Kaikeyi, his charming queen took her place on his left side. Seeing Kaikeyi beside him, the outraged king shouted weakly with annoyance at her "Oh, You the wicked wench Kaikeyi! Do NOT touch ME. I do not wish to see you. You are no longer my wife; not even a distant or remote relative. I discard you, by whom righteousness has been discarded and who is solely interested in avarice and greed. All the contracts which I entered into by taking your hand and performing holy rites around the sacred fire, are now renounced in this world and the next."
Meanwhile Kausalya the principal queen overwhelmed with grief, lifted up the king and dusted all the dust covered all over him and handed him over to his loyal servants. All of them then started walking towards the palace. The virtuous monarch, thinking deeply of his son Rama, was so desolated as one who has slain a brahmin intentionally or as touching the fire by hand. Turning back again and again towards the track of the chariot, the countenance of the king in grief lost its radiance like the sun losing its radiance when swallowed by Raahu.
Guessing that his son would have reached the end of the city, he said "He who slept in comfort on coverings sprinkled with the essence of sandalwood and refreshed by fans waved over by him by the most charming and very kind women, Rama the best of my sons, will from now on has to take refuge at the foot of a tree somewhere, lying down on its trunk or rest on a stone. From today the inhabitants of the forest will behold that long armed lord of the world, Rama, rising from the ground and wandering around like an orphan. The daughter of Janaka, who was always accustomed to comforts, will wander exhausted in the forest through the thorny undergrowth. Seetha who was not earlier accustomed to woodlands, from now on will live in apprehension, hearing the roaring sound of wild beasts. Oh, Kaikeyi! Let your desire be fulfilled! Dwell in the kingdom as a widow. I do not indeed wish to survive any longer without Rama".
Thus lamenting, the king surrounded by his people, entered his palace like entering a disastrous house by one who has taken the funeral bath. Seeing the entire city with its road-junctions and mansions deserted, its shops and temples closed, with its people exhausted with fatigue and plunged in affliction, its highways not very crowded, the king entered his palace wailing and thinking of Rama alone. Bereft of Rama, Seetha and Lakshmana, the palace looked like a big pool rendered unperturbed due to the emptying of snakes in it by Garuda*.
*Garuda (chief of feathered race, enemy of the serpent race) was a mythical bird vehicle of Bhagwan Vishnu.
The lamenting monarch in trembling accents and in soft, pitiful, indistinct and not clearly intelligible words ordered "Take me quickly to the apartment of Kausalya, the mother of Rama. Nowhere else my heart will find solace."
The attendants, accordingly took the king to Kausalya's house and there he was gently laid on a coach. Even though he was physically comfortable in Kausalya's apartment, his mind was disturbed and heart agitated. Bereft of his two sons and his daughter-in-law, the king saw that house devoid of all the charm as a sky without a moon. Looking up and lifting up his arm, the powerful monarch cried in a loud voice, "Oh, Rama! You have left us both, your mother and me. Alas! Those very fortunate men, who will survive the term of fourteen years, seeing Rama come back and embrace him, will be greatly blessed and thereby will be very happy indeed."
The onset of night following dusk resembled the hour of death to him. Dasharatha told Kausalya towards midnight "Oh, Kausalya! My sight has gone along with Rama and not returned. Even now, I am not able to see you clearly. Touch me with your hand." Perceiving her husband in such a pitiable plight Kausalya became very sad and sitting beside him, and with a distressed look said
Meanwhile Kausalya the principal queen overwhelmed with grief, lifted up the king and dusted all the dust covered all over him and handed him over to his loyal servants. All of them then started walking towards the palace. The virtuous monarch, thinking deeply of his son Rama, was so desolated as one who has slain a brahmin intentionally or as touching the fire by hand. Turning back again and again towards the track of the chariot, the countenance of the king in grief lost its radiance like the sun losing its radiance when swallowed by Raahu.
Guessing that his son would have reached the end of the city, he said "He who slept in comfort on coverings sprinkled with the essence of sandalwood and refreshed by fans waved over by him by the most charming and very kind women, Rama the best of my sons, will from now on has to take refuge at the foot of a tree somewhere, lying down on its trunk or rest on a stone. From today the inhabitants of the forest will behold that long armed lord of the world, Rama, rising from the ground and wandering around like an orphan. The daughter of Janaka, who was always accustomed to comforts, will wander exhausted in the forest through the thorny undergrowth. Seetha who was not earlier accustomed to woodlands, from now on will live in apprehension, hearing the roaring sound of wild beasts. Oh, Kaikeyi! Let your desire be fulfilled! Dwell in the kingdom as a widow. I do not indeed wish to survive any longer without Rama".
Thus lamenting, the king surrounded by his people, entered his palace like entering a disastrous house by one who has taken the funeral bath. Seeing the entire city with its road-junctions and mansions deserted, its shops and temples closed, with its people exhausted with fatigue and plunged in affliction, its highways not very crowded, the king entered his palace wailing and thinking of Rama alone. Bereft of Rama, Seetha and Lakshmana, the palace looked like a big pool rendered unperturbed due to the emptying of snakes in it by Garuda*.
*Garuda (chief of feathered race, enemy of the serpent race) was a mythical bird vehicle of Bhagwan Vishnu.
The lamenting monarch in trembling accents and in soft, pitiful, indistinct and not clearly intelligible words ordered "Take me quickly to the apartment of Kausalya, the mother of Rama. Nowhere else my heart will find solace."
The attendants, accordingly took the king to Kausalya's house and there he was gently laid on a coach. Even though he was physically comfortable in Kausalya's apartment, his mind was disturbed and heart agitated. Bereft of his two sons and his daughter-in-law, the king saw that house devoid of all the charm as a sky without a moon. Looking up and lifting up his arm, the powerful monarch cried in a loud voice, "Oh, Rama! You have left us both, your mother and me. Alas! Those very fortunate men, who will survive the term of fourteen years, seeing Rama come back and embrace him, will be greatly blessed and thereby will be very happy indeed."
The onset of night following dusk resembled the hour of death to him. Dasharatha told Kausalya towards midnight "Oh, Kausalya! My sight has gone along with Rama and not returned. Even now, I am not able to see you clearly. Touch me with your hand." Perceiving her husband in such a pitiable plight Kausalya became very sad and sitting beside him, and with a distressed look said
"Now that she got what she wanted, Kaikeyi of crooked ways, will surely wander about freely like a female serpent that was let loose. Having fulfilled her desire of expelling Rama to the forest, Kaikeyi the charming woman will frighten me by clamping down upon me, like a dangerous serpent in the house. Even giving my son to her as a slave would have been better. By that, Rama would have at least stayed in the house by doing the work entrusted by her and roaming about in the city, asking for alms. Having willfully thrown Rama out of his position, Kaikeyi has acted in the same way as one who tends the sacred fire throws a part of the sacrifice to ogres on a new or full moon night. Together with his wife, accompanied by Lakshmana and walking like the king of elephants, and holding a bow in his hand, the mighty armed hero surely would have entered the forest. In the forest, what fate will befall them who had never seen such a suffering before and who have been sent by you to a forest life as per the wishes of Kaikeyi? Devoid of riches, those youthful beings, in exile at the age when they should be enjoying diversions of every kind, how are they to live in misery, having only the roots and fruits for their nourishment? When that auspicious hour will come to me that will bring an end to my sorrows and I shall see Rama with his wife and brother returning here? When will Ayodhya regain its pristine glory, with people thrilling with rapture and be adorned with rows of towering banners the moment it hears of the two heroic princes (Rama and Lakshmana) being present? When will the city rejoice like an ocean swelling jubilantly on a full moon night to perceive the two princes who are tigers among men come back from the forest? When will the mighty armed hero (Rama) enter the city of Ayodhya placing Seetha in the front in the chariot as a bull would follow a cow? When will thousands of men shower the parched grains of paddy on the royal highway over my two sons (Rama and Lakshmana) entering the city? When shall I see the two princes adorned with splendid ear-rings and armed with excellent bows and swords, entering Ayodhya like a pair of mountains crowned with peaks? When will those two princes with Seetha merrily go round the city clockwise, giving away flowers and fruits to virgins and brahmanas? When will the pious Rama, grown ripe in intellect and shining like a god in point of age, return to me, cherishing the world like the timely rain (whenever required)? In some past life, I probably was very meanminded and ipso facto I cut off the teats of cows while their calves were longing to suck them. Oh, tiger among heroes! Fond of my child like a cow, I, as such was forcibly deprived of my child by Kaikeyi in the same way as a cow having a calf of tender age may be deprived of her calf by a lion. I cannot indeed wish to survive without my only son who is adorned with all virtues and is well-versed in all scriptures. I do not think that I can hold on to my life here any longer if I could not perceive my beloved son (Rama) who is mightily armed and Lakshmana of great strength. This fire born of grief caused by the separation from my son, is torturing me in the same way as the illustrious sun, possessed of the greatest splendor, scorches this earth with its rays in summer."
Sumitra, who also was there in the apartment said affectionately "My dear Kausalya! You are fretting needlessly. That son of yours, Rama, is endowed with all the virtues and is the foremost among men. What is the use in your lamenting in this way or in weeping piteously? You know that our sons are mightily strong. Rama has demonstrated that his father is perfectly truthful by renouncing his throne. He stood firmly in righteousness, which is always practiced perfectly by disciples and which gives fruits even after death. That Rama, the most excellent man, does not deserve to be lamented. Lakshmana, not less virtuous than his brother, always renders the best form of service to Rama. His conduct is beneficial to Rama. Seetha, who was habituated to comforts, in spite of knowing fully the pain and difficulties of living in a forest, is accompanying your son. What has not been achieved by your capable son, who is rich in virtues and is engrossed in the vow of truthfulness, and the banner of whose fame flutters though out the world? Having known the purity and magnanimity of Rama, the sun assuredly will not torment Rama's body with his rays. Auspicious and delightful breeze of moderate heat and cold, blowing from woods at all times, will render service to Rama. Gently touching with its cool rays when he is reposing at night and embracing him like a father, the moon will refresh Rama. Formerly, when Rama killed Subahu the son of Sambarasura, the chief of demons, Brahma being delighted, gave celestial weapons to Rama, thereby he became more powerful than before. Rama, relying on the strength of his own arms, will dwell fearlessly in the forest as if in his own palace. The splendor endowed with Rama, the valor that is in him and the beneficent strength that resides in him will lead one to believe that when he completes the term of his exile in the forest, he will speedily regain his kingdom. Rama is the illuminator of even the sun, fire of fire, the ruler of rules, the splendor of splendours, the foremost glory of glories, the forbearance of forbearances, the god of gods and the foremost being of all the beings. Indeed, what handicaps could be there for him in the forest or in Ayodhya? Rama the best among men will be installed on the throne soon along with the princess of Videha kingdom, Seetha who resembles the Mother Earth (the consort of lord Vishnu) and Lakshmi (the goddess of fortune and another consort of Vishnu). Seeing Rama departing, all the people in Ayodhya smitten as they were with grief shed tears born of agony. The goddess of fortune as Seetha followed the invincible hero when he departed for the forest, clad in a garment of the sacred Kusa grass. Indeed, what can be difficult for him to obtain? What can be difficult to obtain for, to whose front indeed walks Lakshmana, the best among the holders of bow wielding arrows, sword and missiles? Oh, Kausalya! I tell you that you ARE GOING TO see Rama coming back, on having completed the term of his exile in the forest. Abandon grief and infatuation. You will see your son, like the rising moon, saluting respectfully your feet, by bowing his head. Seeing Rama shining with great splendor appearing before you again, will succeed his father, you will be shedding tears of joy. Do not have uneasiness or grief. Rama has no ill luck. You will be able to see soon your son along with Seetha, accompanied by Lakshmana. While people are to be consoled by you at this moment, why are you fostering grief in your heart? You, whose son is Rama, ought not to grieve, for none is better established in the right path in the world than Rama. Seeing your son saluting you with his friends, you will at once begin to shed tears, like a line of clouds in a rainy season. Your son the bestower of boons, will soon return to Ayodhya, and touch your feet with his gentle but muscular hands. When your son salutes you respectfully in adoration, you will sprinkle tears of joy in the same way as a line of clouds pour rain on the mountain."
Sumitra the queen, skilled in her employment of words, faultless and charming, thus consoled Rama's mother with soothing words. Hearing those words of Sumitra, the mother of Lakshmana, the agony of Kausalya, Rama's mother and the wife of Dasharatha started to recede in the same way as an autumnal cloud with a little water in it disappears quickly.
==================================================================
No comments:
Post a Comment