The Valmiki Ramayana

by Amish Tripathi

  Bharata replied in wonderful words that were full of dharma. ‘O scorcher of enemies! Where in this world is there a person like you? You are not distressed at misery, nor are you delighted at joy. You are revered by the aged and you ask them when there is a doubt. If a person has obtained the intelligence to look upon death and life equally, and existence and non-existence equally, why should he be tormented? He does not deserve to grieve even when he confronts an adversity. Your spirit is like that of the immortals. You are great in soul and devoted to the truth. O Raghava! You know everything. You see everything. You are intelligent. You possess such qualities and know about existence and non-existence. You do not deserve to suffer from the most terrible of miseries. While I was away, for my sake, my mother performed a wicked deed. It was inferior and injurious, but you should show me your favours. I am tied by the bond of dharma.397 That apart, she is my mother. I should kill her and chastise her with this terrible punishment. She is the perpetrator of a wicked deed and deserves to be punished. But I have been born from Dasharatha, whose deeds were noble and pure. Knowing about dharma, how can I perform an act of adharma, even though I might desire to commit that act? He was my senior. He performed rites and was aged. He was the king. He was my father. He is now dead and one should not condemn a father. In an assembly, he was like a divinity. How could a person who knew about dharma and artha have performed such a sinful act? He knew about dharma and followed dharma, but acted in this way to bring pleasure to a woman. There is an ancient saying that at the time of destruction, creatures are confounded. Having done what he did, in the eyes of the world, the king has made that saying come true. Our father knew the meaning of virtue. Yet, he transgressed it because of anger,398 confusion or rashness. Therefore, correct that transgression. It is the view of the world that if a son thinks it virtuous to counter a father’s transgression, such a son is regarded as a true son, not one who acts in a contrary way. You should be a son like that, do not be one who assents to a wicked act committed by our father. The act that he perpetrated is condemned by the patient people of this world. Save all of us—Kaikeyee, me, our father, the well-wishers, our relatives and all the inhabitants of the city and the countryside. What is this forest? Where is the duty of a kshatriya? What is this matted hair? What about ruling? You should not act in this contrary way. If you wish to follow dharma by accepting a hardship, then accept the hardship of ruling the four varnas in accordance with dharma. Among the four ashramas, garhasthya is the best ashrama.399 This has been said by those who know about dharma. O one who knows about dharma! How can you give that up? Compared to you, I am a child in learning, status and birth. When you are there, how can I rule over the earth? I am inferior to you in intelligence. I am like a child in qualities. I am inferior in status. Without you, I have no interest in remaining alive. O one who knows about dharma! With your relatives and without any distraction and thorns, follow your own dharma and rule over this entire kingdom of our father. With all the ordinary subjects, let the officiating priests with Vasishtha and those who know about the mantras crown you here with the appropriate mantras. After having been crowned, you can leave with us and go and rule Ayodhya. You will quickly conquer the worlds, like Vasava with the Maruts.400 You will repay the three debts401 and properly punish all those who commit wicked deeds. You will satisfy the well-wishers with all the objects of desire. And you will also instruct me. O noble one! The well-wishers will rejoice today at your coronation. Today, the evildoers will be terrified and will flee in the ten directions. O bull among men! Wipe away the outrage that my mother has caused. Today, protect our father from the sin he has committed. With my head bowed down, I am beseeching you. Show compassion towards me. To relatives and all creatures, you are like Maheshvara.402 Or, if you turn your back towards me and leave this place for the forest, I will also follow you wherever you may go.’

  Bharata bowed his head down and sought the favours of Rama, the lord of the earth. However, the spirited one had no intention of returning. He was established in the word given by his father. On witnessing that extraordinary perseverance in Raghava, the people were delighted and miserable at the same time. They were miserable because he was not going to Ayodhya. However, on seeing that he would stick to his pledge, they were also delighted. Bharata prostrated himself before Rama. The officiating priests, the aged leaders of the people and the weeping and senseless mothers praised Bharata’s words and also added their entreaties to his.

  Chapter 2(99)

  Lakshmana’s elder brother, handsome and extremely revered amidst his kin, again responded to Bharata, who had spoken. ‘The words that you have spoken are deserving of a son from Kaikeyee and Dasharatha, excellent among kings. O brother! In ancient times, when our father married your mother, he promised your maternal grandfather this excellent kingdom as a bride price. In a battle between the gods and the asuras, the lord, the king, was extremely delighted with your mother. The king offered her two boons. With that pledge having been made, your illustrious and beautiful mother sought those two boons from that best of men. O tiger among men! Thus urged by her, the king gave her those boons—the kingdom for you and my exile. O bull among men! Because that boon was given, I have been instructed by our father to reside in the forest for fourteen years. Without any violation of the truthful pledge that our father had given, I have thus come to this desolate forest, followed by Lakshmana and Sita. You should also ensure that our father, Indra among kings, was truthful in his speech. You should swiftly crown yourself. O Bharata! For my sake, release the lord, the king, from his debt. O one who knows about dharma! Save our father and delight your mother. O son!403 The sacred texts recount a chant by the illustrious Gaya. This is when he performed a sacrifice to repay the debt to his ancestors in Gaya.404 ‘A son is said to be putra because he saves his ancestors from the hell known as pum.405 One who repays debts to his ancestors is a true son. It is desired that there should be many sons who possess all the qualities and are extremely learned. Among all those, there will be at least one who will go to Gaya.’ O delight of the king! This is what all the rajarshis felt. O best among men! O lord! Therefore, save your father from the hell. O Bharata! Go to Ayodhya and delight the ordinary subjects. O brave one! Go with Shatrughna and all the brahmanas. O king! With Vaidehi and Lakshmana, without any delay, I will enter Dandakaranya. O Bharata! Become the king of men yourself. In the forest, I will be the king of the animals. Now cheerfully go to the most excellent of cities. I will also cheerfully enter Dandaka. O Bharata! Let the umbrella cast a cool shadow over your head and protect you from the rays of the sun. For me, there are the plentiful trees in the forest to cast a shadow. I will happily seek refuge under them. Shatrughna is accomplished and intelligent and will be your aide. Soumitri is known to be my foremost friend. We four are excellent sons for that Indra among men. O Bharata! We will resort to the path of the truth. Do not grieve.’

  Chapter 2(100)

  Rama knew about dharma and addressed Bharata in these excellent words. However, a brahmana named Jabali spoke these words that were against dharma.406 ‘O Raghava! Excellent, but do not turn your intelligence towards a futile end. O noble one! Your intelligence should be like that of an ascetic, but you are behaving like an ordinary man. Who is related to what man? What can ever be obtained by anyone? A creature is born alone and is also destroyed alone. O Rama! If a man clings to anyone as a mother or a father, he should be known as a person who is mad. No one ever belongs to another person. Having entered a village, a man resides for a while in a certain place. However, on the very next day, he abandons that residence and moves on elsewhere. For men, a father, a mother, a house and riches are like that. O Kakutstha! They are just like a residence. Virtuous people do not find delight in these. O supreme among men! You should not forsake your father’s kingdom and dwell in this desolate place that is full of great misery and full of many thorns. Crown yourself in prosperous Ayodhya. The city is waiting for you, with a single braid of hair.407 O son of a king! Enjoy the
extremely expensive royal objects of pleasure. Pleasure yourself in Ayodhya, like Shakra in heaven. Dasharatha is nothing to you and you are nothing to him. He was a different king and you are another. Therefore, do what I am telling you. That king has gone wherever he was supposed to go. That is the nature of everyone who is mortal. You are concerned with this in vain. I sorrow over all those who are excessively devoted to artha and dharma. They suffer in this world and are destroyed after death. There are people who say that the eighth day is for the divinity who was a father.408 Look at the wastage of food. What will a dead person eat? If in the course of a shraddha, food is meant to reach another body and be enjoyed by it, then let it be given to those who are setting out on a journey. At least they will have food for the road. Perform sacrifices, give donations, consecrate yourself for a sacrifice, torment yourself through austerities, renounce—intelligent people wrote these injunctions down in texts so as to persuade people to give. O immensely intelligent one! Therefore, arrive at the conclusion that nothing exists beyond this world. Resort to whatever is directly in front of you. Turn your back on whatever is not manifest. Place at the forefront the intelligence of the virtuous, that which has been demonstrated by all the worlds. Placated by Bharata, accept the kingdom.’

  Chapter 2(101)

  Rama, supreme among those who have truth in their souls, heard Jabali’s words. Without any disturbance to his own intelligence, he spoke these excellent words. ‘You have spoken these words with a view to ensuring my pleasure. Though it seems to be a possible course of action, it is actually impossible. Though it seems to be sanctioned food, it is actually food that should not be eaten. If a man is full of evil conduct and violates pledges, he does not receive respect from the virtuous and destroys perceptions about his character. Conduct makes it evident whether a person is noble or ignoble, brave or vain, pure or impure. If I am ignoble but appear noble, devoid of purity but appear pure, bereft of signs but seem to possess signs, practise bad conduct in the garb of good conduct, practise adharma dressed up as dharma, create confusion in this world, abandon everything auspicious and forsake rites and rituals, will any man who can distinguish between what should be done and what should not be done show me great respect in this world? I will be censured by the world as someone who is wicked in conduct. If I follow bad policies, how can I expect good conduct from anyone? If I deviate from pledges, how will I obtain heaven? The entire world will then conduct itself as it wills. Whatever is the conduct followed by kings, that is indeed the conduct followed by the subjects. Truth and non-violence are the eternal conduct of kings. Therefore, there must be truth in the soul of the kingdom. The world is established in truth. The rishis and the gods also revere truth. A person who speaks truth in this world obtains what is supreme after death. A man who practises falsehood is feared like a snake. In this world, truth is supreme dharma. It is said to be the foundation for heaven. Truth is the lord of this world. Padma409 is established in truth. Truth is the foundation of everything. There is no objective that is superior to truth. Donations, sacrifices, oblations, tormenting through austerities and the Vedas—all these are established in truth. Therefore, there is nothing superior to truth. A single person can rule over the world.410 A single person can protect the lineage. A single person can immerse it in hell. A single person can obtain greatness in heaven. For what purpose should I not follow the instructions of my father? I am true to pledges. He was truthful and he made a pledge in accordance with the truth. My senior has taken a pledge of truth. Because of greed, confusion, or ignorance of darkness, I will not shatter that bridge of truth. The gods and the ancestors will not accept the offerings of those who are fickle and unstable in their intelligence and deviate from the truth. This is what we have heard. I can myself see that the dharma of truth pervades the atman. This burden of the truth has been accepted by virtuous people and has been respected as an objective. I forsake the dharma of kshatriyas. It is adharma in the name of dharma. It is practised by the greedy, the violent, the inferior and the performers of evil deeds. After having been thought of by the mind, the body performs wicked deeds and the tongue utters a falsehood. All three are forms of sin. The earth, deeds, fame, prosperity and heaven desire and seek a man who serves the truth. You have used words of reason to persuade me to do seemingly beneficial things. However, what you have presented as superior is actually ignoble. I gave a pledge to my senior to reside in the forest. How can I abandon the pledge given to my senior and act in accordance with Bharata’s words? The pledge and promise I made in the presence of my senior is inviolate. That is when Queen Kaikeyee was delighted in her mind. I will reside in the forest. I will control myself and eat pure food. With auspicious roots, flowers and fruits, I will render offerings to the gods and ancestors. In this world, I will satisfy my five senses and embark on this journey. Able to discriminate between what should be done and what should not be done, I will do this faithfully and without deceit. Having obtained this earth, an arena for action, I will undertake auspicious deeds. Agni, Vayu and Soma will receive their shares in the fruits of these acts. Having performed one hundred sacrifices, the lord of the gods went to heaven. Having practised fierce austerities, the maharshis obtained heaven. The virtuous have said that truth, dharma, valour, compassion towards beings, agreeable speech and worship to brahmanas, gods and guests are the paths to heaven. Those who are devoted to dharma, associating with virtuous men, those who are spirited and possess the foremost quality of generosity, those who are non-violent and those who are devoid of taints in this world are worshipped as the foremost among sages.’

  Chapter 2(102)

  Discerning that Rama was angry, Vasishtha replied, ‘Even Jabali knows about the comings and goings of this world. He spoke these words with a view to making you return. O lord of the world! Hear from me about the creation of this world. Everything was submerged in water and the earth was created from this. Svayambhu Brahma was created, together with all the gods. Assuming the form of a boar, he raised up the earth.411 With sons who were created from his own self, he created this universe and everything in it. The eternal, everlasting and undecaying Brahma was created from space. Marichi was born from him412 and Marichi’s son was Kashyapa. Vivasvat was born from Kashyapa. Manu is known as Vivasvat’s son. He was the first Prajapati and Ikshvaku was Manu’s son. This prosperous earth was first given by Manu to him. Know that Ikshvaku was the first king of Ayodhya.413 Ikshvaku’s son was the handsome Kukshi, who was famous. Kukshi gave birth to a brave son named Vikukshi. Vikukshi had an immensely energetic and powerful son named Bana. Bana’s son was the mighty-armed and immensely illustrious Anaranya. When the supremely virtuous and great king Anaranya ruled, there was no lack of rain and no famine. There were no thieves. Anaranya gave birth to the mighty-armed King Prithu. From Prithu was born the great king, Trishanku. The brave one spoke the truth and went to heaven in his own physical body. Trishanku’s son was the immensely illustrious Dhundumara. Dhundumara gave birth to the immensely energetic Yuvanashva. Yuvanashva had a handsome son named Mandhata. The immensely energetic Susandhi was born from Mandhata. Susandhi had two sons—Dhruvasandhi and Prasenjit. The illustrious Bharata, the slayer of enemies, was born from Dhruvasandhi. Asita was born from the mighty-armed Bharata. Kings who were his enemies were also born—the Haihayas, the Talajanghas and the brave Shashabindus. Having set up counter-battle formations in an encounter, the king was exiled. He414 became a devoted sage on a beautiful and excellent mountain. It has been heard that his two wives became pregnant. Bhargava Chyavana had resorted to the Himalayas. Kalindee415 approached and worshipped that rishi. She desired a boon from the brahmana that a son might be born to her. The queen returned home and gave birth to a son. However, desiring to destroy the foetus, her co-wife gave her poison. Because he was born with poison, he came to be known as Sagara. On the day of the full moon and in the course of a sacrifice, it was King Sagara who dug up the ocean, thus terrifying the subjects through this force. We have heard that a son named Asamanja
was born to Sagara. Because he was engaged in wicked deeds, his father spared his life, but exiled him. Asamanja had a valiant son named Amshuman. Dileepa was Amshuman’s son and Dileepa’s son was Bhageeratha. Bhageeratha’s son was Kakutstha and the Kakutsthas are named after him. Kakutstha had a son named Raghu and the Raghavas are descended from him. Raghu’s energetic son was Pravriddha. However, he is famous on earth as Purushadaka, Kalmashapada and Soudasa. Kalmashapada had a son who was famous as Shankhana. However, though he was valiant, he and his soldiers were destroyed. Shankhana’s son was the brave and handsome Sudarshana. Sudarshana’s son was Agnivarna and Agnivarna’s son was Sheeghraga. Sheeghraga’s son was Maru and Maru’s son was Prashushruka. Prashushruka’s son was the immensely radiant Ambareesha. Ambareesha’s son was Nahusha, for whom, truth was his valour. Nahusha had a son named Nabhaga and he was supremely devoted to dharma. Nabhaga had two sons named Aja and Suvrata. Aja’s son was King Dasharatha, who possessed dharma in his soul. O Rama! You are his eldest and famous heir. O king of the universe! Considering this, accept your own kingdom. In the entire lineage of the Ikshvakus, it is only the eldest who becomes the king, not a younger one when the elder is alive. The eldest is consecrated as the king. O one with dharma in your soul! This is the eternal practice in the lineage of the Raghavas. You should not forsake this now. Rule the earth with its great store of jewels and this extensive kingdom, as your immensely illustrious father did.’