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Rama goes from his father with no answer given, and the news spreads through the city like a scorpion’s sting. The women very dear to Kaikeyi counsel her to take a second boon from the king, that Rama live in the guru’s house. She lends their counsel no ear. Rama goes, glad, to his mother, who asks him when the auspicious hour will be.
Here and there the city abuses Kaikeyi, and it argues over the king and over Bharata. The women remind her of her love for Rama and ask her to turn him back as he goes. Kausalya blesses her son and keeps him in her lap.
A silent father, an angry queen, and a mother who asks
The main figures in this episode
- Rama the son who tells his father that he will come back quickly and will ask leave of his mother, and then goes. He comes glad to Kausalya, the worry gone that the king might keep him. He bows his head at her feet, is held in her lap, and hears her ask when the auspicious hour will be.
- Dasharatha the king, who in the power of sorrow gives his son no answer. In the city some say he gave the boon without thought. Some, who know the bounds of dharma, lay no fault on him. The women ask Kaikeyi whether he will live without Rama.
- Kaikeyi the queen, whom the city abuses, saying she has set fire on a thatched house. The women dear to her praise her conduct, remind her of her love for Rama, and propose the guru’s house for him. Dry with unbearable anger, she gives no answer, and they leave her.
- Bharata of whom the city and the women speak. Some say he consented. Some say that talk is false, and that Rama is dear as life to him. The women ask Kaikeyi to give him the place of crown prince.
- The companions and the elder women who counsel Kaikeyi. The brahmins’ wives and the respected elder women of the clan, very dear to her, praise her conduct, and their words strike her like arrows. The companions’ counsel is sweet to hear and good in its outcome, and she lends it no ear. Knowing the sickness past cure, they leave her, saying “Dull-witted, ill-fated.”
- Kausalya Rama’s mother, to whom he comes glad. She blesses him, holds him to her breast, kisses his face again and again, and keeps him in her lap. She asks him when the auspicious hour will be, the hour all men and women long for.
Rama turns from his father toward his mother
Rama spoke on, to his father. “Blessed on the earth is the birth of him whose deeds his father hears with delight. The four aims lie in the palm of the hand of him to whom father and mother are dear as life.” The commentary names the four aims as wealth, dharma, desire, and liberation.
“Keeping your order and gaining the fruit of my birth, I will come back quickly. Let it be your order. I will ask leave of mother and come. Then, touching your feet, I will go to the forest.”
Having said this, Rama then went. The king, in the power of sorrow, gave no answer.
The news was very sharp, and it spread through the city. It was as if, at a touch, a scorpion’s sting had climbed through the whole body.
On Ayodhya, as if an army of pity had come down
Hearing it, all the men and women became distraught, as creepers and trees are at the sight of a forest fire. Whoever heard it, wherever he was, beat his head. There was great dejection, and patience came to no one.
Mouths dried, and eyes streamed. Sorrow did not fit in the heart. It was as if the army of the rasa of pity, the feeling of grief that poetry raises, had come down on Ayodhya with drums beating.
In the very midst of its coming together, the Creator spoiled the matter. Here and there people abused Kaikeyi. “What came into this sinner’s mind, that she set fire on a thatched house?”
“Plucking out her eyes with her own hand, she wants to see. Throwing away nectar, she wants to taste poison. Crooked, harsh, ill of intellect, and ill-fated, she has become the fire in the bamboo forest of Raghu’s line.”
“Sitting on the leaf, she has cut the tree. In happiness she has set up the structure of sorrow. Rama was always to her as her own life. For what cause has she resolved on crookedness?”
The city went on, in its sorrow. “The poets say truly that a woman’s nature is in every way beyond grasp, fathomless, and hidden. One might sooner catch one’s own reflection. A woman’s way cannot be known, brother.”
“What can fire not burn? What can the sea not hold? What can a woman, weak in name and strong, not do? Whom in the world does death not eat?”
The debate over the king, and the trust in Bharata
The people went on. “What did the Creator make us hear, and what has he made us hear? What did he show, and what does he want to show?” Some said the king had not done well. “He gave the boon without thought to Kaikeyi’s ill thinking. By insisting, he became the vessel of all griefs. It was as if, wholly in a weak woman’s power, his knowledge and virtue had gone.”
Some, clever, who knew the bounds of dharma, laid no fault on the king. They told one another the stories of Shibi, Dadhichi, and Harishchandra. Some spoke of Bharata’s consent. Some heard it and stayed indifferent.
Closing their ears with their hands and holding their tongues in their teeth, some said: “This talk is false. Your merit goes in saying such a thing. Rama is dear as life to Bharata.”
“The moon may sooner rain sparks of fire, and nectar become like poison. Bharata will never, even in a dream, do anything against Rama.”
Some laid fault on the Creator, who, showing nectar, had given poison. There was turmoil in the city, and worry for everyone. There was unbearable burning in the breast, and eagerness was gone.
The women who remind Kaikeyi of her love for Rama
The brahmins’ wives and the respected elder women of the clan, those who were very dear to Kaikeyi, began to counsel her, praising her good conduct. To her, their words struck like arrows.
They said: “‘Bharata is not as dear to me as Rama.’ You always said this, and the whole world knows it. You have natural love for Rama. For what offense do you give him the forest today?”
“You never showed a co-wife’s jealousy. The whole country knows the love and trust. What has Kausalya spoiled now, for which you have hurled a thunderbolt on the city?”
“Will Sita leave the company of her beloved? Will Lakshmana stay at home? Will Bharata enjoy the kingdom of the city? Will the king live without Rama?” In the commentary’s reading every answer is no, and all would be laid waste.
“Considering this in your breast, give up wrath. Do not become a storehouse of sorrow and stain.”
Bharata as crown prince, and the guru’s house for Rama
The women went on. “Give Bharata the place of crown prince by all means. What work has Rama in the forest?”
“Rama is not hungry for kingdom. He bears the load of dharma, and he is dry to the savor of pleasures.” The commentary adds that she need not fear that Rama, if he did not go to the forest, would hinder Bharata’s rule.
“Leaving home, let Rama live in the guru’s house. Take such a second boon from the king.”
“If you will not act on our word, nothing will come into your hands. If you have made some jest, then, saying it openly, make it known.”
“Is a son like Rama fit for the forest? Hearing of it, what will people say to you? Rise quickly. Do the remedy by which sorrow and stain are destroyed.”
“Doing the remedy by which sorrow and stain go, keep the line. Turn Rama back by insistence as he goes to the forest. Do not set another matter going. As day without the sun, as the body without breath, as night without the moon, so is Ayodhya without the Lord. Understand this in your heart, lady.”
The counsel goes unheeded
The companions had given counsel sweet to hear and good in its outcome. Kaikeyi lent it no ear. Crooked Manthara had schooled her.
She gave no answer, dry with unbearable anger. Her look was as if a hungry tigress were looking at does. Knowing the sickness past cure, they left her. They went, saying: “Dull-witted, ill-fated. While she ruled, fate ruined her. She has done what no one does.”
In this way the men and women of the city lamented, and they hurled ten million abuses at Kaikeyi.
They burned with a severe fever and drew long sighs. What hope of life was there without Rama? The people were distressed at the great separation. It was as if the water creatures were distressed as the water dried.
Rama goes to his mother, knowing himself freed
Men and women were in the power of extreme dejection. Rama went to his mother, Kausalya. His face was glad, and in his thoughts there was a fourfold zest. The worry was gone that the king might keep him.
The commentary adds that Rama had felt dejection at the talk of the consecration, wondering why the elder brother alone should be consecrated, leaving all the brothers. With Kaikeyi’s order and his father’s silent consent, it adds, that worry was gone.
Rama’s mind was like a new elephant, and the kingdom like its tether. The commentary reads the elephant as newly caught, and the tether as the spiked iron fetter it is tied with. He knew himself freed, hearing of the going to the forest, and joy grew in his breast.
His mother’s lap, and the question of the hour
Joining both hands, glad, Rama bowed his head at his mother’s feet. She gave her blessing and took him to her breast. She made an offering of ornaments and clothes.
Again and again the mother kissed his face. There was love’s water in her eyes, and her limbs thrilled. Keeping him in her lap, she again held him to her heart. Her handsome breasts flowed with the rasa of love, which the commentary reads as milk.
The love and the delight could not be told at all. It was as if a pauper had gained the rank of Kubera. Looking with respect at his beautiful face, the mother spoke sweet words.
“Tell me, son. Your mother would give herself for you. When is the auspicious hour that brings joy and blessing? It is the handsome utmost of merit, good conduct, and happiness, and the full measure of the gain of birth.”
“All men and women want that hour with great longing. They want it as the thirsty chatak and his mate want the rain of Svati in the autumn season.”
The course of the episode
Rama told his father that he would keep the order, come back quickly, and ask leave of his mother. Then he went, and the king gave no answer. The news spread through the city, and men and women were distraught. People abused Kaikeyi. Some held that the king had not done well to give the boon without thought, and some laid no fault on him. Some spoke of Bharata’s consent, and some called that talk false. Some laid fault on the Creator. The brahmins’ wives and the elder women of the clan counseled Kaikeyi. They asked her to give Bharata the place of crown prince and to take a second boon from the king, that Rama live in the guru’s house. She lent their counsel no ear, and they left her. The men and women of the city lamented. Rama went to his mother with a glad face, the worry gone that the king might keep him. She blessed him, held him to her breast, kissed his face, and kept him in her lap. Then she asked him when the auspicious hour would be.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 8: The Exile of Rama, the City’s Lament, Guha, and Chitrakuta.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Ayodhyakand, doha 46 to 52, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.