Ramayana ofValmiki and kamban-Ayodhyakanda-18.Bharatha arrives

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18. Bharatha arrives

 

On the day when the messengers from Ayodhya arrived Bharatha was depressed

despite the efforts of his

friends to cheer him up with music ,dance, jokes etc. On being asked the reason

he told them that he had a

bad dream in which he saw his father with dishevelled hair and dirty body

falling from a mountain into a

pond of filth and covered with oil and eating rice mixed with sesame and

plunging into the oil himself and

later going towards south in a chariot drawn by donkeys. This portended that

either himself or Rama or

Lakshmana or the king would die. Not only that, he said, but he dreamt that the

whole world was falling to

pieces the oceans drying up, the moon falling down, the earth covered by

darkness, a blazing fire

suddenly extinguished, the earth quaking, the trees dry up, and the mountains

vanishing in a smoke. So

Bharatha feared a great calamity to happen. At that moment the messengers

arrived.

 

Bharatha on seeing them asked anxiously about the welfare of Rama, Lakshmana and

Dasaratha and

enquired after Kousalya, referring to her as a noble, virtuous, righteous and

the mother of valiant Rama and

asked them about Sumithra also. Finally he spoke about his mother Kaikeyi,

describing her as the one who

loves herself, who is fierce and stung to anger quickly and thinkes herself as

highly intelligent, thus

showing that he was under no illusion about his mother.

 

The messengers told him that all were well in general and that good fortune

awaited him and he was

called to Ayodhya at once. Bharatha took the permission of his grandfather and

uncle and returned to

Ayodhya with rich gifts and large number of attendants and animals fit for

royalty following him

 

Bharatha and Sathrugna travelled for seven nights and seven days and Valmiki

gives a detailed

description of the way from Kekaya to Ayodhya. The country of Kekaya is in the

west of modern Punjab.

From there Bharatha travelled to Ayodhya.

 

When they arrived in Ayodhya Bharatha was shocked to see the state of the city

which looked gloomy

without its usual festive appearance and Bharatha entered th palace of of his

father and not finding the

king there his anxiety increased. Then he went to the palace of his mother.

Kaikeyi was delighted on seeing him and embraced him and enquired after him and

her relatives in Kekaya.

Then Bharatha asked her the whereabouts of the king and she replied that the

king has had a long and

good life and had gone to join his forefathers. Bharatha fell on the floor and

lamented for long and

expressed his grief that he could not be at the side of his father at the time

of his death and Rama and

Lakshman alone had that good fortune and said that since his father was no more

he would go and see

Rama whom he considered as his father now and wanted to know the last message of

his father to him.

 

Now Kaikeyi who might have had doubts by this time about the fulfillment of her

design on seeing the

pure heart of Bharatha and his love of Rama, was torn between the dire reality

and her ambition. She did

not dare to break the news to Bharatha all at once but had to ladle it out in

instalments. She first said, in

order to let Bharatha know that his father was not thinking about him a the time

of death, that Dasaratha

breathed his last by crying , " Ha Rama, Ha Lakshmana, Ha Jaanaki, " and saying

that he was not destined

to see them return and happy are those who will. Thereupon Bharatha asked her

the reason why Rama and

others were not by the side of the king during his last moments and Kaikeyi said

that Rama put on

hermit's garments and went to forest which made Bharatha exclaim whether Rama

committed any crime

such as killing a brahmin or desiring someone's wife etc. which was highly

unlikely knowing Rama's

blemishless character.

 

Then Kaikeyi had no alternative but to tell him exactly what happened and urged

him to accept the

kingdom. If she had expected him to appreciate what she has done for his sake,

that hope might have

been diminished now but what transpired after Bharatha heard her was something

she never bargained for,

as otherwise she would never have done what she did.