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On the road from Janakpur, Dasharatha told Janaka to turn back, and Janaka, in the power of love, did not wish to. Before Janaka turns back, he will speak to Rama of the one whom speech and mind do not know, now the object of his eyes. He will ask for one thing, again and again, with joined hands.
Dasharatha has turned back the men of standing, given the beggars ornaments, garments, horses, and elephants, and set them all on their feet. He honors Janaka in every way. In their meeting there is great entreaty and a love the heart cannot hold. Janaka bows his head to the circle of sages and meets his sons-in-law. Rama honors his father-in-law. Janaka blesses Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrughna, takes hold of Vishvamitra’s feet, and, receiving a blessing, turns back. The wedding party sets out, and the men and women of the villages gaze at Rama. The party, giving happiness to the people of the road, comes near Ayodhya on a holy day. The people of the city adorn their houses, the markets, the roads, the crossroads, and the gates, and trees are planted. In the king’s palace Kausalya and the other mothers of Rama forget the state of their bodies. Sumitra makes ready the auspicious things, and the mothers set out with golden trays for the parachhan, the welcome rite the women perform for the groom. Vasishtha gives the order and Dasharatha enters the city. The minstrels, the panegyrists, and the bards sing, and the people of the city make their obeisance to Dasharatha. The women of the city lift the curtains of the palanquins and see the brides. The mothers perform the parachhan for the princes with their brides.
Janaka turning back, and the brides arriving
The main figures in this episode
- Janaka the king who, in the power of love, does not wish to turn back. With joined hands, he asks how he is to make an entreaty and says that Dasharatha has given him honor. He bows his head to the circle of sages, receives their blessings, and meets his sons-in-law with honor. He asks Rama how he is to praise him. He calls him the swan of the Manas lake of the minds of the sages and of Shiva. He is the one for whom yogis practice yoga, whom speech and mind do not know, now the object of his eyes. He asks for one thing, again and again, with joined hands, that his mind not leave Rama’s feet, even by forgetting. He makes entreaty to Bharata and blesses him, and meets Lakshmana and Shatrughna and blesses them. He takes hold of Vishvamitra’s feet, puts their dust on his head and in his eyes. He tells him that with the sight of him nothing is out of reach. He makes entreaty again and again, bowing his head, and, receiving a blessing, turns back.
- Dasharatha the king who, making entreaty, turns back the men of standing. He gives the beggars ornaments, garments, horses, and elephants, and sets them all on their feet. He speaks again and again of turning back, and tells Janaka to turn back and that he has come a very long way. Stepping down, he stands with a flood of love in his eyes. He honors his kinsman, the father whom the marriage made kin, in every way. At Vasishtha’s order, he enters the city with his company, remembering Shiva, Parvati, and Ganesha. To him the people of the city make their obeisance.
- Rama and his brothers the four princes whom Janaka meets with honor as his sons-in-law, treasuries of form, character, and virtue. Rama, whom Janaka praises and asks for one thing. He hears the fine words and is satisfied. He honors his father-in-law with fine entreaty and knows him to be the equal of his father, of Vishvamitra, and of Vasishtha. Bharata, whom Janaka entreats and blesses. Lakshmana and Shatrughna, whom Janaka meets and blesses, he and they bowing their heads to one another again and again in the power of love. Rama sets out with all his brothers. The men and women of the villages gaze at Rama. The women of the city rejoice, gazing at the four, and the mothers perform the parachhan for them with their brides. None of the four speaks a word in this episode.
- Vishvamitra and Vasishtha the two sages. Rama knows his father-in-law to be the equal of his father, of Vishvamitra, and of Vasishtha. Vishvamitra, whose feet Janaka takes hold of, and the dust of whose feet he puts on his head and in his eyes. To him Janaka says that with the fine sight of him nothing is out of reach and that every success follows the sight of him. Vasishtha, the guru who, knowing the time, gives the order. Neither speaks a word in this episode.
- Kausalya and the mothers Kausalya and the other mothers of Rama, who, helpless with love, forget the state of their bodies. They give abundant gifts to the brahmins, worshiping Ganesha and Shiva, very glad, as if one in utmost poverty had gained the four aims. Helpless with joy and delight, they cannot walk, their limbs gone slack. Greatly full of love for the sight of Rama, they make ready the gear of the parachhan. Sumitra, who, glad, makes ready the auspicious things. All the queens, who make ready every auspicious thing, make aratis in many ways, and sing fine auspicious songs. And the mothers who set out with golden trays in their lotus hands and perform the parachhan at the royal gate for the princes with their brides.
- Sita and the brides the brides who arrive in the palanquins. Sita, whom Shiva names with Rama when he asks Parvati who would not long to see them. The brides whom the women of the city, lifting the handsome curtains of the palanquins, see and are happy. For them, with the princes, the mothers perform the parachhan. None of them speaks a word in this episode.
Janaka has come a very long way
Dasharatha, making entreaty, turned back the men of standing. He called all the beggars with honor, gave them ornaments, garments, horses, and elephants. Nourishing them with love, he set them all on their feet. Reciting the titles of honor again and again, all of them turned back, keeping Rama in their hearts. The commentary reads the titles as the fame of the line.
Again and again Dasharatha spoke of turning back, and Janaka, in the power of love, did not wish to turn back. Then Dasharatha spoke handsome words once more. “Turn back,” he said to Janaka. “You have come a very long way.” And stepping down, Dasharatha stood, and a flood of love rose in his eyes.
Then Janaka spoke with joined hands, in words as if dipped in the nectar of affection. “How am I to make an entreaty?” he said to Dasharatha. “You have given me honor.”
Dasharatha honored his kinsman, the father whom the marriage made kin, in every way. In their meeting with one another there was great entreaty, and a love that the heart could not hold.
The one whom speech and mind do not know, before his eyes
Janaka bowed his head to the circle of sages and received blessings from them all. Then, with honor, he met his sons-in-law, all the brothers, treasuries of form, character, and virtue.
Joining his handsome lotus hands, he spoke words as if born of love. “Rama, how am I to praise you? You are the swan of the Manas lake of the minds of the sages and of Shiva.” The commentary names the lake the Manasarovar.
“The one for whom yogis practice yoga, giving up anger, delusion, possessiveness, and pride. The all-pervading Brahman, unseen, imperishable, consciousness and bliss, without qualities and the mass of qualities. Whom speech, together with the mind, does not know, and whom all those who infer cannot reason out. Whose greatness the Veda tells by saying ‘not this’. Who stays one and the same through the three times: that one, the root of all happiness, has become the object of my eyes. For the living being in the world there is gain in everything when the Lord is favorable.”
Honor past counting, and one request
“In every way you have given me honor, and knowing me your own servant, you have made me your own. Were there ten thousand Sarasvatis and Sheshas, and were they to keep the count for ten million kalpas. My fortune and the story of your virtues would not come to an end in the telling. Listen, Rama. What I say, I say on one strength of mine: that you are pleased by affection ever so small.” A kalpa is an age of the world.
“Again and again, with joined hands, I ask: let my mind not leave your feet, even by forgetting.” Hearing the fine words, as if nourished with love, Rama, whose every wish is fulfilled, was satisfied.
Making fine entreaty, Rama honored his father-in-law and knew him to be the equal of his father, of Vishvamitra, and of Vasishtha. Then Janaka made entreaty to Bharata, and meeting him with love, gave him his blessing. Janaka met Lakshmana and Shatrughna and gave them his blessing. In the power of love for one another, they bowed their heads to each other again and again.
At Vishvamitra’s feet, and Janaka turns back
Making entreaty and praise again and again, Rama set out with all his brothers. Janaka went and took hold of Vishvamitra’s feet, and put the dust of those feet on his head and in his eyes.
The words that follow are Janaka’s in the commentary’s marking. “Listen, Vishvamitra: with the fine sight of you nothing is out of reach. Such is the trust in my mind. The happiness and the fine fame that the guardians of the worlds desire, and are shy even as they wish for them. That happiness and that fame have become easy for me, master. Every success follows the sight of you.”
Again and again he made entreaty, bowing his head, and, receiving a blessing, Janaka turned back.
Happiness for the people of the road
The wedding party set out, sounding the drums, and every company in it, small and great, was glad. Gazing at Rama, the men and women of the villages, gaining the fruit of their eyes, were happy.
Making fine halts at intervals and giving happiness to the people of the road, the wedding party came near Ayodhya on a holy day.
Drums were struck and fine tabors sounded. The great drums and the conches rang out, and horses and elephants roared. Resounding cymbals and handsome small drums sounded, and shehnais played in sweet ragas. Hearing that the wedding party was coming, the people of the city were glad, all of them, with a thrill over their limbs.
Auspiciousness in every house, and trees that touch the earth
The people of the city adorned each their own beautiful houses, and the markets, the roads, the crossroads, and the gates of the city. All the lanes were sprinkled with a scented liquid. Here and there lovely patterned squares, the designs laid down for a rite, were filled in. The market, as it was made, could not be told: festooned archways, banners and flags, and canopies.
Trees were planted with their fruit on them, areca palms, plantains, and mangoes, and bakula, kadamba, and tamala. The handsome trees, once planted, touched the earth. The basins at their roots were made of jewels, a fine piece of craft. Auspicious pitchers of many kinds were made and adorned in house after house. Brahma and all the other gods, looking on Rama’s city, envied it.
At that time the king’s palace shone, and at the sight of its making Kama’s mind was charmed. Auspicious omens, enchantment, prosperity and success, happiness, handsome wealth, and every kind of eagerness. It was as if all of them, taking bodies handsome by nature, had filled Dasharatha’s house. Who, Shiva asks Parvati, would not feel the longing to see Rama and Sita?
The mothers’ joy, and the auspicious things Sumitra makes ready
The married women set out, troop joined to troop, scorning Rati, Kama’s wife, by their own beauty. With all the fine auspicious things and the arati made ready, they sang, as if Sarasvati in many guises were singing.
In the king’s palace there was a clamor. That time and that happiness could not be told. Kausalya and the other mothers of Rama, helpless with love, forgot the state of their bodies. They gave abundant gifts to the brahmins, worshiping Ganesha and Shiva, very glad, as if one in utmost poverty had gained the four aims.
All the mothers, helpless with joy and delight, could not walk. Their limbs had gone slack. Greatly full of love for the sight of Rama, they all began to make ready the gear of the parachhan.
Instruments of many kinds sounded. Sumitra, glad, made ready the auspicious things: turmeric, durva grass, curd, sprigs, flowers, betel leaves and areca nuts, the roots of auspiciousness. And unbroken rice, sprouts, the yellow pigment, parched grain, and the charming buds of tulsi, the sacred basil, shone. The commentary names the pigment gorochan. Golden pitchers, painted, handsome by nature, were as if Kama’s birds had built their nests.
The fragrant things of good omen could not be told, and all the queens made ready every auspicious thing. They made aratis in many ways and, glad, sang fine auspicious songs. Filling golden trays with auspicious things and holding them in their lotus hands, the mothers set out, glad, to perform the parachhan. Their limbs were leafing out with the thrill.
A festival in the likeness of the rains
With the smoke of incense the sky turned dark, as if the clouds of Savan, the month of rain, had set up their pomp. The gods rained garlands of the flowers of the wish-tree, as if rows of cranes were drawing the mind.
Charming festoons made of jewels were as if rainbows, the bows of Indra, had been set in order. On the balconies women appeared and hid, lovely and quick, as if lightning flashed.
The sound of the kettledrums was the deep thunder of the clouds, and the beggars were the chataks, the frogs, and the peacocks. The gods rained pure, fragrant water, and all the men and women of the city were the happy crops. The commentary reads it as a likeness, with the fragrance as the water.
Dasharatha enters the city, and the welcome rite at the royal gate
Knowing the time, Vasishtha gave the order. Dasharatha made his entry into the city, remembering Shiva, Parvati, and Ganesha, glad, with his company. Omens appeared. The gods rained flowers, sounding kettledrums, and the women of the gods danced, glad, singing charming auspicious songs.
The minstrels, the panegyrists, the bards, and the accomplished dancers sang the fame of the light of the three worlds. The commentary names him Rama. Cries of victory and the clear, fine voice of the Veda, steeped in fine auspiciousness, were heard in the ten directions. Many instruments began to sound, and the gods in the sky and the people in the city were full of love. The men of the wedding party, adorned, could not be described. They were greatly glad, and their happiness could not be contained in their minds.
Then the people of the city made their obeisance to Dasharatha, and seeing Rama, they were happy. They waved jewels and garments and gave them away, water in their eyes and a thrill in their bodies. The women of the city, glad, performed the arati, and rejoiced, gazing at the four fine princes. Lifting the handsome curtains of the palanquins and seeing the brides, they were happy.
In this way, giving happiness to everyone, they came to the royal gate. The mothers, glad, performed the parachhan for the princes with their brides.
Let the mind not leave those feet, even by forgetting
Again and again, with joined hands, Janaka asked Rama that his mind not leave Rama’s feet, even by forgetting. At the fine words Rama was satisfied, and he honored his father-in-law. Janaka blessed Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrughna, and put the dust of Vishvamitra’s feet on his head and in his eyes. Receiving a blessing, he turned back.
The next episode opens on the mothers performing the arati again and again. Who could tell to the end the love and the delight? They wave ornaments, jewels, and garments of many kinds in countless ways and give them away.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 5: Parashurama, and the Return to Ayodhya.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Balkand, doha 340 to 348, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.