Ayodhyakand

In the second sopan of the Ramcharitmanas, Ayodhya makes ready for Rama‘s consecration. In one night Kaikeyi asks the king for her two boons. Rama, who was to be made crown prince the next day, is given fourteen years in the forest in a sage’s dress. Sita and Lakshmana will not be left behind. The story follows the three down the forest road, through Shringaverapura and Prayaga to Chitrakuta. It turns back to Ayodhya for Dasharatha’s last days and Bharata’s return to a city in mourning. Then Bharata, with the people of the city behind him, goes to Chitrakuta to bring Rama home. The sopan ends at Nandigrama, where Bharata serves the kingdom under Rama’s sandals and waits for his return.

Each of the thirty-six episodes has a page of its own. There Tulsi’s chaupais, dohas, sorthas and chhands, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary, are told as a story in English prose.

Read it episode by episode

1. King Dasharatha’s Decision, and Ayodhya Preparesdoha 1 to 10
   Dasharatha, seeing white hair by his ears, carries the thought of making Rama crown prince to Vasishtha. Ayodhya prepares. Rama, told to keep every discipline today, sorrows that the consecration leaves his brothers aside.
2. The Gods’ Plea, and Manthara’s Movedoha 11 to 22
   While Ayodhya waits for the next day’s consecration, the gods, whom its music of congratulation does not please, plead with Sarasvati. She turns the mind of Kaikeyi’s maid Manthara. Tale after tale, Manthara sets fear before Kaikeyi’s love for Rama and wins her consent. She tells Kaikeyi to ask the king for the two boons and go to the chamber of anger.
3. Kaikeyi’s Two Boonsdoha 23 to 29
   Ayodhya makes ready the auspicious rites, and Kaikeyi lies on the ground in the chamber of anger. Once Dasharatha has sworn by Rama, she asks the two boons: the tilak for Bharata, and fourteen years in the forest for Rama in a sage’s dress. In his mind, the king’s wish, a wish-tree, is uprooted as it fruits.
4. Dasharatha Pleads, and Kaikeyi Holds Firmdoha 30 to 36
   Dasharatha pleads with Kaikeyi. He says he will send a messenger in the morning and give Bharata the kingdom on a fine day sought out. He offers her his head. Kaikeyi holds him to the word he gave. He falls to the ground crying Rama’s name, and when he falls again, the queen says nothing.
5. Rama Accepts the Exile, and Asks His Father’s Leavedoha 37 to 45
   At dawn Sumantra finds the king fallen on the ground and brings Rama. Rama hears the two boons from Kaikeyi and smiles in his mind. He tells her that meeting the sages in the forest is his good in every way. His father, praying in his mind that he not go, says nothing. Rama asks him to give the order with a glad heart.
6. Ayodhya’s Grief, and Kausalya’s Lovedoha 46 to 52
   Rama goes, and the king in his sorrow gives no answer. The news runs through Ayodhya like a scorpion’s sting. The brahmins’ wives and the elder women of the clan counsel Kaikeyi, and she lends their counsel no ear. Knowing the sickness past cure, they leave her. Kausalya keeps her son in her lap and asks when the auspicious hour is.
7. Kausalya’s Sorrow, and Sita’s Worrydoha 53 to 60
   Rama tells Kausalya that his father has given him the kingdom of the forest, and asks her leave. Dharma and love surround her wit. She tells him to go happily, and clings to his feet. Sita comes and sits with her head lowered, and her anklets sound. Kausalya tells Rama how she has reared Sita, and asks what his order is.
8. Sita Insists on Goingdoha 61 to 69
   Rama tells Sita to stay home for his mother’s sake, and tells her how hard the forest is. Sita entreats him to take her with him. Seeing her state, he tells her to come. Kausalya holds Sita to her breast, and blesses her married state.
9. Lakshmana’s Plea, and Sumitra’s Blessingdoha 70 to 76
   Lakshmana clasps Rama’s feet. Rama tells him to stay, and he pleads not to be cast off. Rama tells him to ask his mother’s leave and come to the forest. Sumitra tells him that Sita is his mother and Rama his father, and blesses him. The three come together to the king’s palace.
10. Leaving Ayodhya, and the Bank of the Tamasadoha 77 to 84
    The king cannot speak, and Rama asks his leave. Kaikeyi brings a sage’s clothes, and Rama goes in the dress of a sage. At Vasishtha’s door he gives the maids and servants into the guru’s keeping. The king sends Sumantra with the chariot, telling him to show the three the forest and come back after four days. The people follow, and on the first day Rama stays on the bank of the Tamasa.
11. From the Tamasa to Shringaverapura, and Lakshmana’s Counseldoha 85 to 93
    When two watches of the night have passed, Rama tells the minister to drive on, wiping out the chariot’s tracks. At dawn the people find no track, and go back to Ayodhya. At Shringaverapura Guha asks Rama into his town, and Rama answers with his father’s order. Guha spreads a bed of grass, and weeps at the sight of Rama asleep. Lakshmana speaks to him of karma, of the world as a dream, and of love for Rama’s feet.
12. Sumantra’s Farewell, and the Boatmandoha 94 to 104
    At dawn, with his brother, Rama makes his hair matted with the milk of the banyan. Sumantra reports the king’s order to bring the three back, and Rama sends his father an entreaty not to worry. Sita asks Rama how a shadow can be held apart from its body. Rama sends Sumantra back by force. Until he has washed Rama’s feet, the boatman will not take him across. He takes nothing, and Rama gives him the boon of pure bhakti. The Ganga blesses Sita, and Rama takes Guha along into the forest.
13. Rama at Prayaga, and Across the Yamunadoha 105 to 116
    At dawn Rama sees Prayaga, the king of holy places, with truth for his minister and the confluence for his throne. Bharadvaja takes him to his breast and asks a boon, natural love for Rama’s feet. The sage sends four young students along, and Rama sends them off before the party crosses the Yamuna. An unnamed ascetic knows his chosen god and falls like a staff. Guha goes home. Knowing Sita weary, Rama delays a short while in a banyan’s shade. The village women go near Sita and make their entreaty.
14. The Village Women, and the Forest Roaddoha 117 to 123
    The village women ask Sita who the two princes are to her. She names Lakshmana, and by a sign of her eyes tells them that Rama is her husband. They bless her and entreat her for sight of her if she turns back by this road. Turning back, the people lay the fault on fate and call the Creator’s works reversed. Of those who did not come on the occasion, the able run and look at them. Rama walks ahead and Lakshmana behind, with Sita between them, setting her feet between the marks of Rama’s feet.
15. Valmiki’s Answer, and a Home at Chitrakutadoha 124 to 133
    Knowing Sita weary, Rama stays near a banyan and cool water, and comes to Valmiki’s hermitage. He asks the sage to tell him a place where no sage meets with disquiet. Embarrassed to ask it, Valmiki asks him in turn to name a place where he is not. Then he tells the dwellings where Rama should dwell, from the hearts of those whose ears his story fills without cease to the mind of one who wants nothing. He bids Rama live on Chitrakuta hill, and there the gods, in the dress of Kols and Kiratas, build two huts of leaves and grass.
16. Days in the Hut at Chitrakutadoha 134 to 141
    Gods, sages, and the Kols and Kiratas come to Chitrakuta. The forest people bring bulbs, roots, and fruit in leaf cups and offer to serve Rama in every way. Since Rama came and stayed, trees of many kinds flower and fruit, and the rivers praise the Mandakini. The forest seems to Sita as dear as a thousand Ayodhyas. Whenever Rama remembers Ayodhya his eyes fill, and remembering Bharata’s love, he grieves.
17. Sumantra Returns to Ayodhyadoha 142 to 152
    The horses will not graze, and Sumantra, slack with sorrow, cannot drive the chariot. Guha gives four servants to go with him. On the road Sumantra rehearses what he will answer, and he enters Ayodhya after dark. In Kausalya’s house the king, lying on the ground, rises and asks him where Rama is. Sumantra begins his report of the road and of Rama’s messages for his father, the mothers, the guru, the people, and Bharata.
18. Dasharatha Dies, and Bharata Returnsdoha 153 to 160
    Sumantra’s words stop, and the king falls to the ground. Kausalya asks him to hold patience. Through a night long as an age he laments, remembers the blind ascetic’s curse, and gives up his body saying Rama’s name. Vasishtha keeps the body in a boat filled with oil and sends for the two brothers. Bharata drives home through ill omens. Kaikeyi tells him the king has set foot in Indra’s city, and then, glad in her mind, all she has done. He stays stunned and silent.
19. Bharata Answers Kaikeyi, and Meets Kausalyadoha 161 to 169
    Kaikeyi tells her distraught son that the king is not to be mourned and that he should rule. Bharata answers that she has destroyed the line in every way. Shatrughna kicks Manthara’s hump, and Bharata frees her. Kausalya swoons at the sight of Bharata, then takes him to her breast and tells him of Rama’s going to the forest. With joined hands he swears that every sin he names may be his if this had his counsel. The mother answers that he will not turn against Rama. When the night has passed, he rises at the guru’s words.
20. The Father’s Last Rites, and the Throne Set Before Bharatadoha 170 to sortha 176
    The king’s body is bathed, and Bharata keeps the mothers back. After the burning on the Sarayu’s bank and the ten-day rite, Vasishtha tells Bharata in the royal assembly that the king gave him the kingship. He says that his father’s word should be made true, and that the kingdom is to be handed to Rama when he comes. The ministers and Kausalya ask Bharata to carry out the guru’s order. At Kausalya’s words his eyes water the new shoots of parting in his breast, and with joined hands he begins to answer.
21. Bharata Refuses the Thronedoha 177 to 184
    Bharata answers the royal assembly. His good, he says, is the service of Rama. Without the sight of the feet of Lakshmana, Rama, and Sita, he says, a kingdom is a host of sorrow. He asks leave to go to Rama, and says that he will go at dawn. His words are dear to all, and the people, scorched by parting, wake as if at a mantra with its seed. Praising him, the assembly asks him to go to the forest where Rama is.
22. The Journey to Chitrakuta, and the Meeting with Guhadoha 185 to 193
    At the fine decision to go at dawn, Bharata becomes dear as life to all. Holding the city to be Rama’s wealth, he sets pure servants and guards over it. The city sets out for Chitrakuta, Vasishtha first in a chariot. Bharata and his brother go on foot, and Kausalya asks Bharata to mount the chariot. When the company draws near Shringaverapura, Guha hears the news and suspects guile. He orders the boats sunk and tells his kinsmen to arm. A sneeze comes on the left, and an old man counsels a meeting. Guha goes with gifts. Hearing him called “Rama’s friend,” Bharata leaves the chariot, and seeing Guha prostrate, he takes him to his breast.
23. Rama’s Bed of Grass, and Guha’s Lovedoha 194 to sortha 201
    Bharata embraces Guha, and the gods tell the glory of Rama’s name. Guha says what the sight of Bharata’s feet has given him, and the queens bless him. At the Ganga, Bharata asks for natural love of Sita’s and Rama’s feet. Guha takes him to the shimshapa where Rama rested. Bharata salutes the bed of kusha grass, puts the dust of the footprints to his eyes, and sets two or four specks of gold on his head. He speaks of Sita, of Lakshmana, and of Rama asleep on the ground, and says fie on Kaikeyi and on himself. Guha answers on oath that none is as dear to Rama as Bharata.
24. Bharata at Prayaga, and Bharadvaja’s Hospitalitydoha 202 to 215
    Bharata crosses the Ganga with the company and goes on foot to Prayaga, telling his servants that a servant’s dharma is the hardest of all. He asks the Triveni for love of Rama’s feet birth after birth, and no other boon. Bharadvaja says that Kaikeyi is not at fault, and that Bharata is as if Rama’s love had taken a body. Bharata tells the sages that he grieves for Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita in the forest. At the sage’s word the riddhis and siddhis, the powers of plenty and attainment, lodge everyone in comforts that heaven does not have even in dreams. That night the sage’s order keeps Bharata in the hermitage.
25. Indra’s Fear, and the People Along the Roaddoha 216 to 225
    Bharata sets out from Prayaga for Chitrakuta hand in hand with Guha, and the gods rain flowers. Seeing his power, Indra asks his guru to keep Rama and Bharata from meeting. Brihaspati tells him that the servant is supremely dear to Rama, and not to fear Bharata. The village women wonder whether the two brothers are Rama and Lakshmana. Guha shows them the crest-jewel of mountains, near which the two heroes dwell with Sita.
26. Lakshmana’s Anger, Rama’s Trust, and Bharata Drawing Nearsortha 226 to doha 236
    Rama wakes while night remains and hears Sita’s dream of Bharata come with his company. Word comes of a fourfold army. Lakshmana says that Bharata has come with an ill plan, and swears by Rama to kill Bharata and his army in battle. A voice in the sky praises his strength. Rama answers that royal pride will not come to Bharata, and swears that no brother is as pure and good. On the way Bharata fears that the three may hear his name and leave the place, and he thinks that his refuge is Rama’s sandals.
27. The Meeting of Bharata and Ramadoha 237 to 246
    Guha climbs high and, raising his arm, tells Bharata of the trees near the river where Rama’s leaf hut is thatched. In the hermitage Bharata cries out to be saved and falls to the ground like a staff. Lakshmana, held by his service, bows his head to the ground and tells Rama that Bharata is saluting. Rama rises, unsteady with love, lifts Bharata by force, and takes him to his heart. Rama embraces Kaikeyi first among the mothers and consoles her at her feet. Sita shuts her eyes at the sight of her mothers-in-law, then holds patience and meets them.
28. At Chitrakuta, and the Guru’s Proposal for Bharatadoha 247 to 259
    Vasishtha tells of the king’s going to the city of the gods, and Rama keeps a fast and performs his father’s rites. The guru wishes the grieved people two days of Rama’s sight. The Kols, Kiratas, and Bhils bring honey in leaf cups and will take no price. Bharata finds no sleep, and not one device settles in his mind. In the council the guru proposes that the two brothers go to the forest and that Lakshmana, Sita, and Rama be turned back, and the queens weep. Rama says that whatever Bharata says is good to do, and the sage bids Bharata speak the words of his heart.
29. Bharata’s Plea, and Rama’s Worddoha 260 to 270
    Bharata stands up in the council and says that even when he lost at play, Rama made him win, and that he is the root of every wrong. Rama answers that Bharata’s self-reproach is for nothing and that he will do today whatever Bharata says. The gods are afraid, and Brihaspati speaks of Bharata as Rama’s shadow. Bharata makes three requests, and he swears that whatever order Rama gives with a glad mind, each will carry out. Rama stays silent, and at that moment Janaka’s messengers come.
30. Janaka Comes to Chitrakutadoha 271 to 277
    Janaka’s messengers say that his city went mad with grief, and that the king sent spies to learn Bharata’s feeling before he set out. The people of Ayodhya entreat Vishnu that Rama be king and make Bharata crown prince. Rama leads the army on to the hermitage, a sea full of peace, as if it were a river of compassion. Vasishtha tells Janaka to hold patience, and a day passes without water.
31. Kausalya and Sunayana Meet, and Sita Stands Firmdoha 278 to 286
    After four days both companies wish to dwell in the forest near Rama. Sita’s mother, Sunayana, comes to Kausalya by night. Kausalya asks that Lakshmana be kept back and Bharata go to the forest. Janaka holds his daughter Sita, in an ascetic’s guise, close to his heart. Sita, considering the hour and right dharma, holds patience.
32. Janaka and Vasishtha Deliberatedoha 287 to 293
    Janaka tells Sita that she has made both lines holy. By night he tells his queen that Bharata will not push aside Rama’s order, even in thought. In the morning Rama asks the guru to do what is fitting, saying that the good of all is in his hands. The guru carries Rama’s words to Janaka, and Janaka asks Bharata for his order. Bharata answers that the dharma of service is hard, and asks them to do what is good for all, keeping Rama’s bent.
33. The Gods’ Trick, and Bharata’s Surrenderdoha 294 to sortha 301
    Janaka and his company praise Bharata’s words, which, like a face in a mirror held in the hand, cannot be grasped. The gods beg Sarasvati to turn Bharata’s wit, and she refuses them. The selfish gods make a bad plot and devise a trick of fear, confusion, dislike, and restlessness. Rama swears that whatever order the guru and Janaka give is on his head, and all look at Bharata’s face. Bharata asks Rama for his order, and says that his wish is service with natural love.
34. Rama Counsels Bharata, and the Water of the Holy Placesdoha 302 to 309
    Indra sets restlessness on every head, and the people’s minds run two ways between the forest and home. Rama tells Bharata that the bidding of mother, father, guru, and master is Shesha holding up the earth of all dharma. He tells Bharata to make the people and the family happy, bearing heavy distress, and says that the whole term will be great hardship for him. Bharata asks for a support to serve, asks Rama’s order for the water he brought, and asks leave to see Chitrakuta. Atri tells him of a fine well near the hill for the water of the holy places.
35. Bharatakupa, Rama’s Counsel, and the Sandalsdoha 310 to 317
    Bharata sets the water of the holy places in the holy spot, and Atri says that people will call it Bharatakupa. He goes about Rama’s forest for five days, with the sage telling the origin, name, and power of each place. At dawn Bharata asks for the order to go and serve Ayodhya, and for counsel for the term. Rama, in the power of hesitation and love, gives him his sandals, which Bharata places on his head.
36. The Reign of the Sandals, and the Discipline at Nandigramadoha 318 to sortha 326
    The companies go on from Chitrakuta in silence and reach Ayodhya on the fourth day. Janaka hands the realm to the ministers, the guru, and Bharata, and sets out for Mithila. Bharata sets the sandals on the throne and makes a leaf hut at Nandigrama. He lives there in matted hair on a bed of kusha grass, asking the sandals’ order for the realm’s work. The term is like the full-moon night in the spotless sky of his heart.

Tulsidas’s Rama story

The ground of every episode here is Tulsidas’s Awadhi Ramcharitmanas. Valmiki’s Sanskrit Ramayana can be read whole, in its own right. The two poems share many episodes, and they differ in order, in dialogue, and in detail. Each episode is checked against the Manas’s own text and Poddar’s commentary, and what is told there is what Tulsi tells.

Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, the second sopan (Ayodhyakand), read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.