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Sita had gone down into the netherworld, and all across that great assembly the monkeys and the sages were calling out “Well done, well done” with their eyes fixed on Rama. He stood leaning on the wooden staff a man holds for support at a sacrifice, his eyes clouded with tears, his head bowed, his mind sunk in a private ruin. For a long while he wept, and shed his tears without counting them, and at last, filled at once with grief and with anger, he spoke. “A sorrow I have never known before is reaching now to touch my mind. Before my very eyes Sita has vanished, the way Lakshmi herself might vanish. O Earth, venerable goddess, give Sita back to me, or you will learn what my anger is, for you know my strength. You are my mother-in-law as much as anyone: it was out of you that Janaka drew Maithili long ago, when his golden plough turned the field. So return Sita, or open to me the same door, that I may go down into the netherworld or up into heaven and be with her there.”
Brahma’s reassurance and the opening of the Uttarakanda
His grief kept rising into threat. If the Earth would not hand Sita back exactly as she had been, he said, he would grind the whole world to ruin, mountains and forests and all, and let the waters close over every last field. While the scion of Kakutstha was speaking so, Brahma, standing among the gods, answered him. “Rama, Rama, keeper of noble vows, do not give yourself to this grief. Remember what you were before this life, and the word you gave the gods, O destroyer of your enemies. I would not presume to remind you, mighty one, of that supreme form of yours, but in this very hour, unconquerable one, call to mind that you are the descent of Vishnu. Sita is pure and true and turned toward you as she has always been, and by the strength of the austerities she performed with you as her whole refuge she has passed in peace to the world of the serpents. Your reunion with her will come again, in heaven; of that there is no doubt. Now hear what I say to you in the middle of this gathering.”
A key to understanding (the idea): The “world of the serpents,” Nagaloka, carries two meanings here at once: the netherworld into which Mother Earth drew Sita down, and, in its deeper sense, the abode of Vishnu. Brahma is reminding Rama that the human life he has been living is a play, and that the true meeting of Sita and Rama belongs to the divine world.
Brahma went on. “This poem, Rama, this Ramayana that is dedicated to you and that you have now heard, is the highest of all poems. It tells in full every joy and every sorrow you have known from your birth, and everything that is yet to come; of that there is no doubt. This first of all poems rests entirely upon you, and no one but you could ever be its hero and be worthy of such fame. I heard the whole of it long ago, together with the gods, wonderful and true in every word, with nothing hidden. So now, best among men, scion of Kakutstha, settle yourself firmly in dharma and listen to the part of the poem that remains, the part that tells of the days to come. This remaining portion goes by the name of the Uttarakanda; hear it, O radiant one, with the sages beside you. It is fit for no one else to hear. The great sage Valmiki composed it, and it is for you alone to hear it.”
Having said this much, Brahma, lord of the three worlds, went up to heaven with all the gods, his kinsmen. The great sages of Brahma’s own world stayed behind, with his leave, wishing to hear the story of what lay ahead for the descendant of Raghu. When he had heard the gracious words of the God of gods, the radiant Rama turned to Valmiki. “Sir, the Uttarakanda that concerns my future, the part these sages of Brahma’s world wish to hear, let it be sung tomorrow.” So resolving, he took Kusha and Lava by the hand, dismissed the great crowd of men, and returned to his hut of leaves. He grieved only for Sita, and grieving so, he passed the night.
The gist: Stricken by Sita’s descent into the netherworld, Rama turned in anger against the Earth, but Brahma reminded him of his true nature as Vishnu, promised him reunion with Sita in heaven, and set before him the last book of the Ramayana, the Uttarakanda, to be heard.
Rama’s long and righteous reign, and the passing of his mothers
When the night was gone and the day had come, Rama called all the great sages together and said to his two sons Kusha and Lava, “Sing, without any hesitation.” So, once the great and noble sages had taken their seats, the two boys sang this Uttarakanda, the poem of the days to come. Sita had passed into the earth by the power of her truth, and at the close of the sacrifice Rama was heavy with sorrow and felt this world to be an empty place. Not to see Vaidehi, and to be torn so by grief, left his mind no rest at all. He gave rich gifts to all the kings, and to the bears and the monkeys and the demons, and to the great throng of the leading brahmins, and so brought the sacrifice to its proper end and sent them away. Then the lotus-eyed Rama, with Sita held in his heart and his two sons beside him, entered Ayodhya.
That son of Raghu never took another wife after Sita. At each horse-sacrifice a golden image of Janaka’s daughter stood in the queen’s place. For ten thousand years he performed the horse-sacrifice, and the Vajapeya ten times as often, each rite heavy with gold poured out in gift. He performed the Agnishtoma and the Atiratra, and many a Gosava, and other sacrifices besides, all with lavish offerings. So the long reign of that great soul passed, seated on his throne, bent always upon dharma. The bears and the monkeys and the demons held steady under his rule, and the kings came day after day with their tribute and stayed devoted to him. The clouds gave their rain in season, the harvests were good, the four quarters of the sky were clear, and town and countryside alike were crowded with hale and well-fed people. In Rama’s reign no one died before his time, no creature suffered sickness, and no disaster ever fell.
A key to understanding (the sacrifices): The Vajapeya (a soma rite that displays a splendor equal to the royal consecration), the Agnishtoma (a five-day soma rite), the Atiratra (a soma rite that runs through an entire night), and the Gosava (in which the king keeps a year-long vow) are ancient shrauta sacrifices, all laid down in the Vedas.
After a long stretch of years, Rama’s mother, the illustrious Kausalya, surrounded by her son and her grandsons, yielded to the law of time. Sumitra and the illustrious Kaikeyi followed her soon after, having done many acts of dharma, and took their place in heaven behind her. All three, great-souled and glad, were united there with King Dasharatha, and gathered the fruit of every righteous deed. For his mothers Rama made great gifts from time to time, sharing without difference among the ascetic brahmins. He gave to the ancestors the things they loved and gave brahmins their choicest wealth, and performed sacrifices most hard to accomplish, so that the standing of both ancestors and gods was raised. So, lifting the course of dharma higher with sacrifice upon sacrifice, Rama passed many thousands of years in ease.
The gist: Even parted from Sita, Rama set her golden image in the queen’s place and performed thousands of sacrifices while he ruled in dharma; in time Kausalya, Sumitra, and Kaikeyi passed on to join Dasharatha in heaven.
Gargya’s arrival and Bharata’s march on the country of the gandharvas
After some time had gone by, Yudhajit, the king of Kekaya and Bharata’s maternal uncle, sent his own preceptor to the great Rama: Gargya, the son of Angiras, a brahmin sage of boundless splendor. As a token of his affection the king sent for Rama ten thousand fine horses, and blankets, and gems, and rich garments of many colors, and lovely ornaments. When Rama heard that the great sage Gargya had come, and of the vast treasure the Kekaya king Ashvapati had sent, he went out with his brothers a full two miles to meet him, and honored Gargya as Indra honors Brihaspati. Having worshipped the sage, having taken in the gifts, and having asked after the welfare of his uncle in every particular, Rama began to question the noble sage once he was seated. “Venerable one, best among those who know the shastras, you are like Brihaspati himself. For what purpose have you come? What word has my uncle sent?”
Hearing Rama, the great sage began to set out in detail an errand that seemed almost a marvel. “Mighty-armed one, bull among men, your uncle Yudhajit has sent this in friendship; hear it if it pleases you. On both banks of the river Sindhu lies the country of the gandharvas, a region of great beauty, rich with fruit and root. It is guarded by the three crore sons of Shailusha, gandharvas skilled in war and armed to the teeth, immense in strength. Conquer them, scion of Kakutstha, and add that fair city of the gandharvas to your own kingdom, a thing no one else could do. May it please you to take it, mighty-armed one; I do not counsel this against your interest.” Hearing the word of both the sage and his uncle, Rama was pleased. He said, “So shall it be,” and looked toward Bharata.
Folding his hands, Rama spoke courteously to the brahmin. “Sage among brahmins, Bharata’s two brave sons, Taksha and Pushkala, will go to that country, well guarded by their granduncle and holding fast to dharma. With Bharata at their head, and with their army and their followers, these two young men will kill the sons of the gandharva king Shailusha and divide the two regions between them. Once they have founded two cities there and set his two sons in place, that most righteous Bharata will come back again to me.” So speaking to the brahmin sage, Rama ordered Bharata to set out with his army and his attendants, and on an auspicious day, under a favorable star, he consecrated the two young princes. With Angiras’s son Gargya at the front, Bharata marched out with the army and the two boys. That army, hard as Indra’s own to withstand, went forth from Ayodhya, and Rama walked behind it a long way to see it off. Flesh-eating demons athirst for blood, terrible hordes of spirits, and lions and tigers and boars, and birds of the air in their thousands, all went ahead of the host, eager for the flesh of the gandharvas’ sons. Spending a month and a half on the road, that army, whole and glad, came at last to the land of Kekaya.
A key to understanding (the place): This land of the gandharvas on both banks of the Sindhu is taken to correspond to the old northwest, the Gandhara region along today’s Pakistan and Afghanistan borderlands; the figure of three crore stands for a vast host rather than an exact count.
The gist: On the counsel of his uncle Yudhajit and the message brought by Gargya, Rama sent Bharata, with his sons Taksha and Pushkala, to conquer the gandharva country along the Sindhu.
The destruction of the gandharvas and the founding of Takshashila and Pushkalavata
When Yudhajit, king of Kekaya, heard that Bharata had come as commander of the army, he was overjoyed, and Gargya with him. He set out with a great throng of people and, joining Bharata, reached in haste the capital of the gandharvas, who could take any shape they wished. Bharata and Yudhajit, with their swift-striking warriors and all their army and followers, came up to the gandharva city. Hearing that Bharata had arrived, the gandharvas, immense in power and eager for war, poured out and raised their war cries on every side. Then a wild and terrible battle broke out, a thing to make the hair stand on end; it ran for seven nights, and neither side came away the victor. Rivers of blood streamed out in all directions, their crocodiles the swords and the spears and the bows, and the bodies of men floating on them like driftwood.
Then Bharata, Rama’s younger brother, in a great rage, loosed against the gandharvas the most terrible weapon of Death, the one called Samvarta. Struck by that mighty Samvarta, the three crore gandharvas were torn apart in a single instant, as if bound fast in the noose of death. So swift and dreadful was the ruin of those mighty gandharvas that even the gods could not recall a battle like it. When all of them were slain, Bharata, the son of Kaikeyi, founded there two great and prosperous cities: he set Taksha over Takshashila in the gandharva country and Pushkala over Pushkalavata in the land of the Gandharas. Both cities were heaped with wealth and gems, graced with gardens and groves, each striving to outshine the other, laid out with well-ordered markets, fine mansions, tall many-storied palaces, temples of worship, and stands of tala, tamala, tilaka, and bakula trees, until the two lovely places looked like divine cities of heaven. Having settled them fully in five years, the mighty-armed son of Kaikeyi, Bharata of Raghu’s line, returned to Ayodhya.
The graceful Bharata bowed to that great soul who was like a second Dharma in living form, as Indra bows to Brahma, and told him just as it had happened: the great and glorious battle with the gandharvas, and the founding of the two cities. Hearing it, Rama of Raghu’s line was greatly pleased.
The gist: After seven nights of savage fighting, Bharata loosed the Samvarta weapon of Death and destroyed all three crore gandharvas, then set Taksha over Takshashila and Pushkala over Pushkalavata before returning to Ayodhya.
The consecration of Angada and Chandraketu
When he had heard Bharata’s account, Rama, pleased, and with all his brothers about him, said to Lakshmana words of wonderful import. “Son of Sumitra, your two sons, Angada and Chandraketu, know dharma and are firm in valor. I judge them fit to guard kingdoms of their own, and I mean to consecrate them. Let a region be found that is lovely and untroubled, where these two archers may live in ease. Look, gentle brother, for a land where kings are not oppressed and hermitages are not laid waste, so that we do not later stand at fault.” At Rama’s word Bharata answered, “This region called Karupatha is a lovely one, free of every ill; let a city be founded there for the noble Angada, and for the noble Chandraketu a fair, sorrowless land called Chandrakanta.”
Rama accepted Bharata’s word. He brought the Karupatha country under his own hand and founded a city there for Angada. That city, Rama’s gift, was named Angadiya, most lovely and guarded on every side. For Chandraketu, a wrestler, a city was founded in the land of Malla, famous by the name of Chandrakanta, like a divine city of heaven. Then Rama, invincible, with Lakshmana and Bharata, in great gladness consecrated Angada and Chandraketu. Having crowned the two young men and set them firmly on their way, they sent Angada westward and Chandraketu to the north. Lakshmana, Sumitra’s son, went himself behind Angada, and Bharata became the rear guard for Chandraketu.
Staying a full year in Angada’s city, and settling his unconquerable son well in place, Lakshmana came back at last to Ayodhya. Bharata too, having stayed a year and more, returned to Ayodhya and served at Rama’s feet. Both of them, Sumitra’s son and Bharata, most righteous men, bound with their whole hearts to Rama’s feet, in the depth of their love for him lost all count of the passing time. So, always at the work of the citizens and always keeping to dharma, the three of them saw ten thousand years go by. Every desire fulfilled, standing in the city of virtue and clothed in prosperity, the three brothers shone with a splendor like three sacrificial fires blazing high with the oblations well poured into them.
The gist: Rama consecrated Lakshmana’s sons Angada and Chandraketu over the kingdoms of Karupatha and the land of Malla; even after this, ten thousand more years of Rama, Bharata, and Lakshmana passed in the service of dharma.
Time comes as a messenger in the guise of an ascetic
After a further span of time, while Rama was ruling and holding steadily to dharma, Time came to the palace gate in the form of an ascetic. He spoke to Lakshmana, standing there resolute and glorious. “I have come for a great purpose; report my arrival to Rama. I am the messenger of the great and radiant sage Atibala, mighty one, and I have come to see Rama on an errand.” At once Sumitra’s son carried word of the ascetic to Rama. Bright as the sun with the fire of his austerities, seeming to burn with his own splendor and to scorch all around him with his rays, the messenger came before Rama and said in a sweet voice, “May it be well with you.” The radiant Rama honored him with the water of welcome and asked after his health, and the messenger seated himself on a beautiful golden seat. Rama said, “Welcome to you, great and wise one. Give me the message of the one who has sent you here.”
Pressed by Rama, that lion among kings, the sage said, “My message is to be spoken only between the two of us, in private, if you hold the common good in mind. If you honor the words of the chief of ascetics, O king, then whoever should hear our talk or should look on us must be given up by you to death.” Rama swore, “So shall it be,” and turned to Lakshmana. “Mighty-armed one, go and stand at the door, and send the doorkeeper away. Whoever sees or hears the words that pass between the two of us must, without fail, be given up by me to death.” Setting Lakshmana at the door, Rama said to the sage, “Now, ascetic, speak without hesitation. Tell me the will of the one who sent you; I am eager to hear it.”
The gist: Time came in the guise of the messenger of the sage Atibala, asked Rama for a private audience, and set the condition that whoever heard or saw their talk must be given up to death; Rama swore to it and posted Lakshmana at the door.
Time delivers the message of Brahma
Then Time spoke. “Hear, O king of great power, for what purpose I have come; the grandfather of the worlds, the god Brahma, has sent me. At the beginning of things, brave conqueror of the enemy’s strongholds, I was your son, brought forth by your Maya in the form of Time, the destroyer of all. Out of that eternal, unmanifest being, you yourself arose. Our lord, the master of all worlds, the venerable Brahma, has sent this word: ‘Gracious one, the promise you once made to protect the worlds has been kept. Before creation, drawing all the worlds back into yourself by your own Maya and reposing upon the great ocean, you first brought me, Brahma, into being. Then, again by your Maya, you shaped the thousand-hooded Ananta, the serpent lying upon the waters, and brought forth the two powerful beings Madhu and Kaitabha, from the heaps of whose bones this earth, thick with mountains, was made and took the name Medini.
A key to understanding (a name): Medini is one of the names of the earth. In the puranic tradition its floor was formed from the marrow and bones of Madhu and Kaitabha, and it took its name from that. This is the same greatness of Vishnu to which Brahma is pointing here.
Brahma’s word went on. “‘Bringing forth from your navel a divine lotus bright as the sun, and out of it bringing me forth, you laid upon me the whole work of the Prajapati, the maker of creatures. Having handed that burden to you, lord of the world, I worship you alone, for it is you who give me my power; therefore guard all living beings. By that eternal being you are beyond conquest. It was to protect creatures that you took on the nature of Vishnu. Born of Aditi as the mighty son Vamana, the divine dwarf, you added strength to your brothers the gods whenever the moment called for it, and stood by them. And when men were being crushed under Ravana, best in all the world, then, longing to kill Ravana, you fixed your mind on being born among men, and yourself set the span of your human stay at ten thousand and a thousand years.
A key to understanding (the number): “Ten thousand and ten hundred years” comes to eleven thousand. The Valmiki Ramayana gives Rama’s reign this vast span as a sign of his divine descent, not as any ordinary human lifetime.
“‘So, best among men, you became the mind-born son of Dasharatha. Your stay in human form is now complete, and the time has come for your return to us. If, great king, you wish once more to serve your people, then stay on as you please, and may it be well with you; and if, descendant of Raghu, your wish is to go to the world of the gods, then let the gods find their lord again in Vishnu.’ This is what Brahma says.” Hearing Brahma’s word from the mouth of Time, the destroyer of all, Rama laughed and answered him. “Time, hearing this most wonderful word of the God of gods has filled me with great joy. It was for the work of the three worlds that my human life took place. May it be well with you: I will go back to where I came from. You have come exactly as my own heart wished, and there is nothing for me to weigh. As Brahma has said, I must remain, doing all the gods’ work, until the hour when all things are dissolved.”
The gist: Time carried Brahma’s message that Rama is in truth Vishnu, that his human stay of eleven thousand years is complete, and that the hour of return has come; Rama laughed and accepted it gladly.
Durvasa’s arrival and Lakshmana caught between two vows
While Rama and Time were still in their talk, the venerable sage Durvasa came to the palace gate, wishing to see Rama. That best of sages said to Lakshmana, Sumitra’s son, “Show me Rama at once, before my errand is lost.” Hearing the sage, Lakshmana, slayer of enemy heroes, saluted the great man and said, “Sir, what is to be done for you? What is your errand? What should I do? Rama is engaged just now; wait, brahmin, for one short hour.” At this the best of sages, Durvasa, went dark with rage, and as if to burn all before him with his very eyes, he said to Lakshmana, “This very instant, son of Sumitra, speak of me to Rama. If you do not do it this very instant, I will curse this city, and you, and this whole land, and Bharata, and Rama, and all your line; I can hold this anger in my heart no longer.”
Hearing the dreadful words of the great sage, Lakshmana turned over in his mind what they would mean, and came to a decision: “Let my death alone come, and let there be no destruction of all.” Resolving so with his reason, he carried word of Durvasa’s arrival to Rama. When Rama heard Lakshmana, he dismissed Time and came out at once, and there before him stood Durvasa, son of Atri. Rama saluted the great man, who seemed to blaze with his own fire, and asked with folded hands, “What is to be done?” Durvasa answered, “Hear me, lover of dharma. Today my vow of a thousand years’ fasting has come to its end. So, sinless one, I ask you for whatever cooked food may be ready in your house.” At this King Rama, glad at heart, offered the sage whatever food was prepared. Durvasa, best of ascetics, ate that food as though it were nectar, said “Well done, Rama,” and went back to his hermitage.
When the sage had gone to his hermitage, Rama remembered the words of Time, and sorrow rose in him. Recalling that terrible outcome, he was worn through with grief; with his face bowed and his heart wretched, he could not speak a word. Then, weighing the words of Time in his reason and finding that there was now no escape from it, the greatly glorious Rama fell silent.
The gist: Fearing Durvasa’s curse, and choosing that all should not perish, Lakshmana accepted his own death by breaking in on Rama’s private audience; Rama, remembering the words of Time, fell silent and grief-worn.
The forsaking of Lakshmana and his bodily ascent
Seeing Rama with his face bowed and drowned in grief, like the moon swallowed by Rahu, Lakshmana spoke to him cheerfully and in sweet words. “Mighty-armed one, do not grieve on my account; bound by deeds already done, this is the way of the course of Time. Kill me without any misgiving, gentle brother, and keep your vow; those men who break their promises go to hell, scion of Kakutstha. Great king of Raghu’s line, if you love me, if I am worthy of your grace, then kill me without hesitation and let dharma grow.” At Lakshmana’s words Rama, his senses shaken, called his ministers and his family priest, and in their midst told them all that had happened, the coming of Durvasa and the vow he had sworn on the ascetic’s condition.
Hearing this word, so bound up with dharma and with what was right, all the ministers and the teachers kept silent. Then the radiant Vasishtha spoke. “Greatly glorious Rama, this hour of your parting, and your separation from Lakshmana, I saw long ago in a vision that made my hair stand on end. Mighty-armed one, forsake him; Time is too strong. Do not make your vow empty. When a vow is broken, dharma is destroyed, and when dharma is destroyed, this whole world of things moving and unmoving, with all the hosts of gods and sages, perishes beyond a doubt. So, best among men, for the protection of the three worlds, restore this world to health today, even without Lakshmana.” Hearing the word of all those men, so bound up with dharma, Rama said to Lakshmana in the midst of that assembly, “Son of Sumitra, so that dharma may not be overturned, I forsake you; and forsaking and slaying are one and the same for the good.” At Rama’s word Lakshmana, his eyes clouded with tears, went out at once, and did not return to his own house.
Reaching the bank of the Sarayu, he sipped the water, folded his hands, drew in all his senses, and, holding even his breath, settled into the yoga of pranayama. On Lakshmana, so held in the yoga of breath and self-mastery, Indra and the gods, and the throngs of apsaras, and all the sages, rained down flowers. Invisible to human eyes, the mighty Lakshmana was taken up alive, in his own body, and Indra entered heaven with him. Then, seeing the fourth part of Vishnu returned to heaven, all the great gods, glad and rejoicing, did honor to Lakshmana of Raghu’s line.
A key to understanding (the idea): Lakshmana is called “the fourth part of Vishnu” because, in the tradition, all four sons of Dasharatha were born of a portion of Vishnu; it is for this reason that Lakshmana’s return in his own body became a cause of joy for the gods.
The gist: To keep the vow and guard the three worlds, on Vasishtha’s counsel Rama forsook Lakshmana; Lakshmana settled into the yoga of breath on the bank of the Sarayu and rose to heaven in his own body.
Bharata refuses the throne, and Kusha and Lava are consecrated
Having given up Lakshmana, Rama, full of pain and grief, said to the priests and ministers and citizens, “Let all that is needed for a consecration be brought without delay; this very day I will take the road that Lakshmana has taken. This very day I will consecrate the brave and dharma-loving Bharata as lord of Ayodhya, and then go to the forest.” At this word of Rama’s, all the people bowed their heads to the ground and seemed to lose the breath in their bodies. Bharata too was struck almost senseless, and, speaking harshly of kingship, he said, “I swear by truth and by the joys of heaven, king of Raghu’s line, that I do not want the kingdom without you. Consecrate Kusha and Lava, brave Kusha in Kosala and Lava in Uttara Kosala. And let swift messengers go to Shatrughna and tell him quickly of our departure; let there be no delay.”
Hearing Bharata’s word, and seeing the citizens with their faces bowed and worn with grief, Vasishtha said, “Child Rama, see the people lying prostrate on the ground; act only after you have learned their wish, and do nothing they would hate.” At Vasishtha’s word Rama raised the people up and asked them all, “What shall I do?” Then all the people said, “Rama, wherever you go, we will follow behind you. If you love your citizens and hold this matchless affection for them, scion of Kakutstha, then let us walk with you on that good road, the road to heaven, our children and wives with us. Take us wherever you will, lord, to the forest of penance, to hard country, to river or to sea, only do not forsake us. In following you lies our deepest love and our highest boon; this is our one desire.”
Seeing the firm devotion of the citizens, Rama said, “Very well.” That same day, seeing that the end of his earthly life had come, he consecrated his two noble sons, Kusha in Kosala and Lava in Uttara Kosala. Setting each consecrated son on his lap, holding him close, and again and again breathing in the scent of his head, he gave to each a thousand chariots, ten thousand elephants, and a hundred thousand horses. He sent the two brothers Kusha and Lava, with much wealth and many gems and crowds of hale and prosperous people, to their own cities. Having consecrated the two brave princes and sent them off to their cities, Rama dispatched messengers to the noble Shatrughna.
The gist: Bharata refused the kingdom without Rama and proposed that Kusha and Lava be consecrated; the people vowed to go with Rama, and Rama consecrated Kusha and Lava over southern and northern Kosala.
Shatrughna’s arrival, and the monkeys and demons who came to follow
Driven by Rama’s word, the swift messengers reached Madhura without a halt on the way. In three days and nights they came to Madhura and told Shatrughna everything just as it was: the giving up of Lakshmana, Rama’s resolve, the consecration of the two sons, and the people’s decision to go with him. Kusha’s lovely city lay at the foot of the Vindhya mountain, and the wise Rama had given it the name Kushavati; Lava’s lovely city became famous as Shravasti. Ayodhya was to be left empty, they said, and Rama of Raghu’s line, and the great chariot-warrior Bharata, were making ready to go to heaven. Having laid all this before the noble Shatrughna without delay, the messengers ended and said, “Make haste, king.” Hearing this terrible news of the end of his line, Shatrughna called all the people and the priest Kanchana together and told them all that had happened, and told them of the death soon to come to himself and his brothers.
Then the brave Shatrughna consecrated his two sons: Subahu received Madhura, and Shatrughati received Vidisha. Dividing the army of Madhura in two and setting each son up with wealth, King Shatrughna established them there, Subahu in Madhura and Shatrughati in Vidisha, and then came to Ayodhya alone, in a single chariot. He saw Rama blazing like fire in living form, clad in fine silk and seated among the deathless sages. Reflecting on dharma, Shatrughna bowed to Rama and said with folded hands, “Descendant of Raghu, I have consecrated my two sons and come with my mind made up to follow you; know me as one so resolved. Beyond this nothing should be said, brave one, and no order should be heard; least of all should you wish to put an obstacle in the way of one like me.” Knowing how firm Shatrughna’s resolve was, Rama of Raghu’s line smiled and said, “Very well.”
No sooner had that word been spoken than many hosts of monkeys and bears and demons, able to take any shape they wished, arrived there. With Sugriva at their head they had all gathered, wishing to see Rama as he set his face toward heaven. The sons of gods, the sons of sages, and the sons of gandharvas came as well, knowing that Rama’s earthly life was at its close. All those monkeys and demons bowed to Rama and said, “King, we have come to follow you. Best of men, if you go without us, then know that you have taken up the rod of Yama and struck us dead.” And in the midst of this, the mighty Sugriva too saluted the brave Rama in due form and said, “Lord of men, I have crowned brave Angada, Vali’s son, upon the throne and come here; know me, king, as one resolved to follow you.”
The gist: Shatrughna consecrated his sons over Madhura and Vidisha and firmly resolved to go with Rama; Sugriva too, with the monkeys, bears, and demons, having given Angada the kingdom, came to accompany Rama to heaven.
Vibhishana, Hanuman, and Jambavan are told to remain on earth
Hearing Sugriva’s word, Rama, best of those who bring gladness, remembered their friendship and said, “Listen, friend Sugriva; I will not go without you, neither to the world of the gods nor to that supreme abode.” When they had all spoken so, Rama, scion of Kakutstha, smiled and said, “So shall it be,” and then turned to the glorious king of the demons, Vibhishana. “Mighty king of the demons, so long as your people live, you are to stay in Lanka and rule. So long as the sun and the moon endure, so long as this earth abides, and so long as my story lives in the world, so long let your kingdom stand. In friendship I lay this on you; carry it out. Guard your people in dharma, and make no reply to this. And one thing more, king of the demons: worship Jagannatha, the lord of the world, the god of the Ikshvaku line; even the gods, with Indra at their head, should always worship him.” Saying “So shall it be,” Vibhishana took Rama’s word to himself in obedience.
Having said this to him, Rama turned to Hanuman. “You have made up your mind to live, so do not let your resolve go for nothing. Lord of the monkeys, so long as my stories move through the world, so long stay on, keeping to my word, in perfect gladness.” At this Hanuman was overjoyed, and said, “So long as your holy story walks the world, so long will I remain upon this earth, keeping your command.” In the same way Rama spoke to Jambavan, the aged son of Brahma, and to Mainda and Dvivida, and told them that these five, Jambavan and the others together with Vibhishana and Hanuman, should live on upon the earth until the coming of the age of Kali. To all the rest of the bears and monkeys Rama said, “It is well; as I have said, all of you come with me.”
A key to understanding (the five): Rama commanded five to remain deathless: Vibhishana, Hanuman, Jambavan, Mainda, and Dvivida. Of these, the deathlessness of Hanuman and Vibhishana grew especially famous in later tradition; but Valmiki here has all five stay on earth “until the age of Kali comes.”
The gist: Rama gave Vibhishana the kingdom of Lanka and the charge to worship Jagannatha, and told Hanuman, Jambavan, Mainda, and Dvivida, with Vibhishana, five in all, to remain on earth until the age of Kali; the rest of the monkeys and bears he allowed to come with him.
Rama’s great departure with all the people of Kosala
When the night was gone and the morning came, the broad-chested, greatly glorious, lotus-eyed Rama said to the family priest, “Let my kindled Agnihotra fire go before me, carried by the brahmins, and let the Vajapeya umbrella too go ahead in all its beauty on this final journey.” Then the radiant Vasishtha performed, exactly as the scriptures lay down, the whole rite of the great departure. Clad in fine garments, uttering the mantras of the Supreme Brahman, with kusha grass held in his hands, Rama set out toward the Sarayu. Speaking not a word anywhere, empty of all action, without any comfort, bright as the sun, he passed out of that palace that shone like the sun itself.
On Rama’s right was Lakshmi, seated on her lotus; on his left was the goddess Earth; and before him walked the Power of resolve in living form. Arrows of every kind, the wonderful bow strung and ready, and all his weapons went along in human shape. The Vedas in the form of brahmins, Gayatri the protector of all, the Omkara, and the Vashatkara all followed behind Rama. The great sages and all the earth-gods, the brahmins, went after that great soul as far as the gates of heaven, which stood open. Behind Rama walked the women of the inner apartments, the old, the children, the servants and the maids. Bharata and Shatrughna, with the women of their households, went behind Rama with the Agnihotra fire. Bears, monkeys, demons, townsfolk, ministers, throngs of servants, sons, cattle, and kinsmen, all with their own followers, went gladly behind Rama.
Then all the people, thick with hale and well-fed folk, drawn on by his qualities, followed Rama. Men and women, birds and beasts and kinsmen, all made sinless, followed him gladly. The monkeys, hale and glad, having bathed in the Sarayu, went on with cries of kila-kila, bound to Rama with love. Nowhere among them was anyone wretched, or ashamed, or in pain; all were glad and full of joy, and the whole of it was a marvel beyond words. Whoever came from the countryside to see Rama depart, that person too, the moment he saw Rama, set off behind him to heaven. The spirits who dwelt unseen in the city fell in behind Rama as he went toward heaven. Things fixed and things that move, every one that saw Rama, followed after him. In that hour there was not to be seen in Ayodhya a creature so small that it did not go behind Rama; even the beings of the animal kingdom, all of them, bound to Rama with love, went after him.
A sub-tale: The author of the Bhagavata later recalled this same moment: those people of Kosala who touched Rama with truth, or looked on him, or sat with him, or walked behind him, all went to that supreme place to which the yogis go. It confirms Valmiki’s telling, that the mere touch, sight, or company of Rama became enough to grant release.
The gist: With the Agnihotra fire, the Vedas, Gayatri, and his own weapons in living form going before him, Rama set out on his great journey to the Sarayu; his brothers, the households, all the people, the beasts and birds, and the least of creatures, every living thing in Ayodhya, followed him gladly.
Entering the Sarayu, and Rama’s return into the splendor of Vishnu
Going a yojana and a half to the west, Rama of Raghu’s line came to the Sarayu, the river that turns to the west, with its holy waters. Following the course of that river, ruffled with whirlpools, Rama came, with all his people, to that place. At that very hour Brahma, grandfather of the worlds, ringed round by all the gods and by the great sages, came to where the scion of Kakutstha stood ready for heaven; he came encircled by hundreds and millions of divine aerial cars. The sky filled with a divine splendor; it flooded with an unearthly light thrown off by the self-luminous dwellers of heaven, doers of holy deeds. Sweet, fragrant, purifying winds began to blow, and the gods let fall a shower of flowers like a great stream of water.
Then, while hundreds of instruments sounded and the place was thronged with gandharvas and apsaras, Rama began to walk on foot into the waters of the Sarayu. And Brahma spoke from the sky above. “Come, Vishnu; may it be well with you. Happily you have returned, descendant of Raghu. With your brothers, who are the equals of gods, enter your own form, mighty-armed one, or take whatever form you wish, O most radiant one. Enter the form of Vishnu, or the eternal sky itself. You are the goal of the worlds, and no one knows you fully but the wide-eyed Maya who was once your consort, Sita. You are past all thought, the great being, imperishable and unaging; take yourself into whatever form you wish.”
Hearing Brahma’s word, the wise Rama made his resolve and, in his own body, entered the splendor of Vishnu, and his brothers with him. Then the gods worshipped that god who was Vishnu in form, and the Sadhyas, and the hosts of the Maruts, with Indra and Agni at their head, all did him honor. The divine bands of sages, the gandharvas, the apsaras, the Suparnas, the Nagas, the Yakshas, the Daityas, the Danavas, and the demons, all those who had been born of the gods and had come forth from them, grew hale and full of joy, their every wish fulfilled; and seeing the three worlds made spotless, the gods cried “Well done, well done.”
Then the radiant Vishnu, who had been Rama, said to Brahma, “Keeper of noble vows, these hosts of men too are worthy that you should grant them a world. All these glorious people have followed me out of deep love. My devotees, who gave up even their lives for my sake, are all worthy of my grace.” Hearing Vishnu’s word, Brahma, lord and teacher of the three worlds, said, “All those who have come here will go to the world named Santanaka, near the world of Brahma and filled with all the merits of Brahma. And any creature that breathes its last while it remembers you in this way will, in its devotion, leave behind its human body and dwell in Santanaka. Even a beast that gives up its life while it remembers you will win the same reward.”
Before the eyes of all the gods, the people were united with their ancestors. When the lord of the gods had spoken so, they all reached Gopratara, the sacred ford on the Sarayu’s bank. Overcome with tears of joy, they went down into the Sarayu; and as each one bathed in the water and gladly gave up his life, he cast off his human body and mounted an aerial car. Hundreds of the beasts too, touching the waters of the Sarayu, took on bodies full of light and, shining like the gods with divine forms, went to heaven. Whatever least creature of the animal kind gave up its life in the water of the Sarayu while it remembered Rama alone, that creature went to the world of the gods at the touch of that water. The bears and monkeys and demons who went down into it also cast their bodies in the water and passed into heaven; the monkeys and bears born of the gods returned each to his own divine nature, and Sugriva entered the orb of the sun. Then Brahma, teacher of the worlds, having established in heaven all who had come, went with the glad and rejoicing gods to the highest heaven.
A key to understanding (the place): Gopratara, famous today in Ayodhya as Guptar Ghat, is the very ford on the Sarayu from which Rama entered the water. The Santanaka world that Brahma names is a divine realm near the world of Brahma, where those who give up the body in devotion to Rama find their place.
The gist: At the moment of his entering the Sarayu, at Brahma’s word, Rama returned in his own body into the splendor of Vishnu, his brothers with him; the people who had come with him, the monkeys and bears, and even the least of creatures gave up their bodies in the Sarayu and passed to Santanaka and the other divine worlds.
The fruit of hearing and reading the Ramayana, and the close of the story
This much, together with the Uttarakanda, is the whole account, honored even by Brahma, renowned by the name of the Ramayana, and composed by Valmiki. When all had gone to heaven, Rama took his place once more in the world of heaven in the form of Vishnu, as before, by whom this whole world of things moving and unmoving, the three worlds together, is pervaded. And so the gods, with the gandharvas and the siddhas and the great sages, listen forever in heaven, in their gladness, to the poem that is the Ramayana.
This account gives long life, brings good fortune, and destroys sin; the Ramayana is the equal of the Veda, and a wise man should have it recited at the rites for the dead. By hearing it, the sonless man gains a son and the poor man gains wealth; whoever reads even a single quarter-verse of it is freed from all his sins. Even the man who sins day after day, if he reads but one shloka of the Ramayana, is set free from sin. To the one who recites the Ramayana, cloth and a cow and gold should be given; when the reciter is content, all the gods are content. The man who reads this life-giving account, the Ramayana, wins renown, with his sons and grandsons, in this world and in the world beyond.
The gist: Established in heaven in the form of Vishnu, Rama’s story comes to its close; Valmiki tells us that the Ramayana is an account the equal of the Veda, giver of long life, of good fortune, and of release, whose single verse destroys sin.
Source: Srimad Valmiki Ramayana, Uttarakanda, Cantos 98-111 (Gita Press, Gorakhpur).
Based on: Valmiki Ramayana (Gita Press, Gorakhpur)