Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 14

Meaning

Perceiving Daśaratha (descended in the line of Ikṣwāku) fallen unconscious and tossing about on the floor, afflicted as he was with grief caused by the thought of the impending separation from his eldest son, the wicked Kaikeyī spoke as follows : (1)

Meaning

“Having promised a boon to me as though you had perpetrated a sin, why are you lying dejected on the floor? You ought to keep to the bounds of morality set up by your forefathers. (2)

Meaning

“For, men knowing what is right speak of truthfulness as the highest virtue. Nay, you have been urged by me to your duty because I take my stand on truthfulness alone. (3)

Meaning

“Having made a promise to a hawk that he would part with his own flesh equal in weight to the dove that had sought his protection against the hawk, and offering his body to the bird in exchange for the dove, King Śaibya, a ruler of the whole world, attained the highest destiny. (4)

Meaning

“Plucking out his own eyes, the glorious King Alarka likewise gave them remorselessly to a Brāhmaṇa, who had mastered the Vedas and had asked for them. (5)

Meaning

“Wedded to the vow of truthfulness, the ocean (the lord of the rivers) for its part does not, even at the time of flow-tide, transgress its limits even to a small extent because of its respect for truth. (6)

Meaning

“Truth is Brahma denoted by the monosyllabic OM; virtue is rooted in Truth. The immortal Vedas represent Truth alone; nay, the Supreme is attained through truthfulness. (7)

Meaning

“Firmly adhere to truthfulness, if your mind is set on piety. Let the aforesaid prayer of mine be granted, since you are a bestower of boons, O noblest king ! (8)

Meaning

“In order to attain the coveted fruit of righteousness as well as in compliance with my request, send your eldest son into exile at once. Indeed, I speak to you thrice about it. (9)

Meaning

“If you do not implement this stipulation with me, O worthy king, then, forsaken (neglected) by you, I shall lay down my life before you.” (10)

Meaning

Importuned thus by Kaikeyī, who had no scruple in her mind about what she was doing, the king could not untie the cord of plighted word that fettered him, any more than Bali could unloose the noose placed round his body by Indra through his younger brother, Lord Vāmana, in order to deprive him of his sovereignty of the three worlds. (11)

Meaning

Like a bullock struggling to escape on finding itself between the two wheels of a cart, he got agitated at heart and his countenance grew pale. (12)

Meaning

Unable, as it were, to see with his bedimmed eyes, and controlling himself with great difficulty by recourse to fortitude, the king spoke to Kaikeyī as follows : (13)

Meaning

“I fully disown, O wicked woman, your hand—which was once clasped by me in the presence of the nuptial fire when it had been consecrated by uttering the sacred text—(गृभ्णाभि etc., relevant to the occasion)—as also your son, Bharata, begotten by me, alongwith yourself. (14)

Meaning

“The night has already fully elapsed, O queen ! Perceiving the sunrise, people will surely urge me to expedite the projected installation of Rāma as Prince Regent. (15)

Meaning

“But as I am not going to survive any longer, Rāma should be made to offer water to me, when I have breathed my last, by means of the requisites for the consecration of Rāma, collected for the purpose. (16)

Meaning

“If, as you say, you interrupt the installation of Rāma, O woman of evil conduct, no water should be offered to my departed spirit by you, including your son. (17)

Meaning

“Having seen people with that joy writ large on their expression before, I am unable to see them bereft of merriment and devoid of joy and with their face hung downward, on the contrary, today.” (18)

Meaning

While that high-souled monarch was speaking as aforesaid, the holy night with its garland of the moon and the stars passed and was followed by the dawn. (19)

Meaning

Overwhelmed with anger, Kaikeyī of vicious conduct, who knew how to speak, thereupon addressed the following pungent words to the king once more : (20)

Meaning

“Why do you utter such words hurtful as poison and disease? You ought to summon your son Rāma here without being agonized. (21)

Meaning

“You will have done your duty by me only when you have installed my son, Bharata, on the throne, sent Rāma into exile to roam about in the woods and rid me of thorns (in the shape of all hostile elements).” (22)

Meaning

Importuned again and again by Kaikeyī like an excellent horse lashed with a sharp whip, the king made the following reply : (23)

Meaning

“I stand bound with the cord of morality and my judgment is lost. I, therefore, wish to see my eldest and beloved son, the pious Rāma.” (24)

Meaning

Meanwhile when, on the night being over, the sun had risen and the sacred hour propitious for the installation had duly arrived, nay, when the moon got united with a favourable lunar mansion viz., Puṣya, Sage Vasiṣṭha, who is endowed with rare virtues, hastily entered Ayodhyā, the foremost of cities, accompanied by his pupils and taking with him all the requisites connected with the installation. (25-26)

Meaning

Passing through the aforesaid city—whose streets had been watered and thoroughly swept, which had been decorated with excellent buntings and was thronged with overjoyed men, which consisted of market-places stocked with abundant commodities and was marked with great festivities, which eagerly longed for the installation of Śrī Rāma, a scion of Raghu, and was fumigated on all sides with the incense of sandal-wood and aloe, nay, which vied with Amarāvatī, the capital of Indra, the ruler of gods—the glorious sage beheld the gynaeceum, which was decorated with rows of flags of every description and crowded with citizens and people hailing from the countryside, nay, which was graced with Brāhmaṇas and fully packed with liveried servants carrying a staff and excellent horses richly adorned. (27—30)

Meaning

Having reached the said gynaeceum, the highly delighted Vasiṣṭha, surrounded as he was with the greatest Ṛṣis, overpassed that crowd standing outside and arrived in front of the gate. (31)

Meaning

At the gate of the gynaeceum, however, he saw the charioteer-cum-minister of Daśaratha (a lion among men), Sumantra by name, who had a pleasing appearance and had just come out of the gate. (32)

Meaning

The highly glorious Vasiṣṭha said to that wise son of a charioteer* : “Please announce at once to His Majesty that I have turned up here. (33)

Meaning

“Here are gold pitchers containing the water of the holy Gaṅgā as well as that from the various seas. An excellent seat of Udumbara wood has been brought for the use of Rāma at the time of consecration. (34)

Meaning

All kinds of seeds required for the consecration and fragrant substances as well as precious stones of every description, honey, curds, ghee, parched grains of paddy, blades of Darbha grass, flowers of the prescribed varieties, milk, nay, eight charming virgins and a good elephant in rut, a splendid gold chariot drawn by four horses, a special kind of sword called Nistriṁśa, an excellent bow, a palanquin with bearers and a white umbrella resembling the moon, nay, a pair of white chowries and a jug of gold, also a white bull with a large hump on its back and tethered with a gold chain as well as a lion with four canine teeth, a highly-spirited excellent horse, a throne with a pair of lions made of the same material for its charms, a tigerskin and small wooden sticks for feeding the sacrificial fire as well as a fire, nay, all varieties of musical instruments, courtesans and other women decked with ornaments, teachers and other Brāhmaṇas, cows, sacred beasts and birds, the foremost of citizens and people hailing from the countryside as well as merchants alongwith their followers—these as well as many other loving people, speaking kind words, await at the door alongwith the kings, eager as they are to witness Rāma’s installation. (35—41)

Meaning

“Request the Emperor to take time by the forelock so that Rāma may ascend the throne when the sun has fully risen and the moon gets united with the constellation named Puṣya.” (42)

Meaning

Hearing the aforesaid message of Sage Vasiṣṭha, the very mighty Sumantra (the son of a charioteer) entered the gynaeceum once more, glorifying Daśaratha, a tiger among kings. (43)

Meaning

The attendants too, who were esteemed of the king and were ever keen to please him, dared not stop him, senior as he was in years as well as in wisdom and had already been permitted to see him whenever he would. (44)

Meaning

Stationed besides the king and ignorant about the aforesaid helpless plight of the monarch, Sumantra made up his mind to glorify him in most pleasing words. (45)

Meaning

Standing with joined palms as before in the king’s gynaeceum, Sumantra, the charioteer, then extolled the emperor as follows : (46)

Meaning

“Even as the ocean gladdens the heart at sunrise, glorious as it is in the sunshine, pray, gladden us with your delighted mind, being delighted yourself thereby. (47)

Meaning

“At this very hour of sunrise Mātali, Indra’s charioteer, extolled Indra, the ruler of gods, with the result that the latter conquered all the demons on the field of battle. So do I glorify you. (48)

Meaning

“Even as the Vedas alongwith Grammar etc., (the branches of knowledge auxiliary to them) as well as the sciences such as the science of archery guide* in the work of creation the self-born Lord Brahmā, the creator, so do I awaken you to your duty today. (49)

Meaning

“Even as the sun alongwith the moon arouses the people of the blessed earth, which sustains the entire creation (the sun while rising and the moon while setting), so do I arouse you today. (50)

Meaning

“Having dressed and adorned yourself in consonance with a festal occasion, and shining brightly with your effulgent personality, rise, O very great monarch, like the sun from Mount Meru. (51)

Meaning

“May the gods—Moon, Sun, Śiva, Kubera, Varuṇa, Agni and Indra bestow upon you victory, O descendent of Kakutstha ! (52)

Meaning

“Night, the goddess, is gone. All things desired by you are done. Now get up please, O lion among kings ! and pay your attention to the following programme. (53)

Meaning

“All the requisites for the installation of Śrī Rāma as Prince Regent are ready. The citizens as well as the people from the countryside as also the merchants stand at the door with joined palms. (54)

Meaning

“Here stands the mighty Vasiṣṭha alongwith the other Brāhmaṇas. Let the installation of Śrī Rāma, a scion of Raghu, be ordered at once. (55)

Meaning

“Even as cattle get lost without the keeper, even as an army loses its cohesion without a general, nay, even as a night forfeits its charm without the moon and cows are unable to calve and yield milk without a bull, a state will meet with a similar fate where the monarch is not to be seen.” Hearing his aforesaid significant submission, prefaced with words of consolation, as it were, the Emperor (lit., the ruler of the earth) was overcome with grief once more. Looking up towards the well-known charioteer, with eyes reddened through grief for his son, the glorious and pious king, whose joy had ended for good, thereupon said to him, “With your words of praise uttered at this inopportune moment, indeed you are positively cutting me to the quick once more.” (56—59)

Meaning

Hearing his pathetic remark and finding the king miserable, Sumantra with tightly joined palms slipped away to some distance from that place. (60).

Meaning

When, owing to his miserable condition, the Emperor could not speak himself, Kaikeyī, who was well-versed in statecraft, replied on behalf of the Emperor to Sumantra as follows—so the tradition goes. (61)

Meaning

“Completely exhausted due to uninterrupted wakefulness during the night, impatient as he was through jubilation over the prospect of Śrī Rāma’s installation, the king, O Sumantra, has fallen asleep. (62)

Meaning

“Therefore, go quickly, O charioteer, and bring the illustrious Prince Rāma here; may good betide you ! No thought need be bestowed on this.” (63)

Meaning

“Without hearing the king’s command, O queen, how shall I go?” Hearing the aforesaid reply of the minister, the king spoke to him as follows : (64)

Meaning

“Sumantra, I should like to see Rāma, please bring the charming boy at once.” And deeming Śrī Rāma’s visit good for the king, the minister rejoiced at heart and in obedience to the king’s command he sallied forth quickly with delight. Urged by Kaikeyī once more in the meantime to make haste, Sumantra thought, “Evidently I am goaded to bring Rāma quickly with the object of seeing Rāma expeditiously installed as Prince Regent, as the pious king feels fatigued on account of over-exertion in that connection and is reluctant to move out.” Arriving at this conclusion, the highly glorious charioteer, Sumantra, issued forth once more with great delight from the lovely gynaeceum, which appeared like a pool in the sea as compared to the whole city, of which it formed only a small part. Coming out, he saw the main entrance crowded with men on the front side. (65—68)

Meaning

Fully emerged out of the gynaeceum all of a sudden and taking note of the officials stationed at the gate, Sumantra saw citizens of various classes collected close to the door and present with abundant riches brought by way of offerings. (69)