Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 52

Meaning

The night having ended in dawn, the highly illustrious Śrī Rāma, who was distinguished by a broad chest, spoke as follows to Lakṣmaṇa, who was endowed with auspicious bodily marks : (1)

Meaning

“The hour of sunrise is at hand and the glorious night has passed. Over there the very dark bird, the cuckoo, is uttering its notes, O dear brother ! (2)

Meaning

“The shrill note of peacocks crying in the woodland is also heard. Let us, therefore, O good brother, cross the swift-flowing Gaṅgā (the daughter of Jahnu*), which runs towards the sea.” (3)

Meaning

Grasping the intention of Śrī Rāma’s words and informing Guha as well as the charioteer accordingly, the said Lakṣmaṇa, the delight of his friends, stood facing his elder brother, Śrī Rāma. (4)

Meaning

Hearing the command of Śrī Rāma and bowing to it, nay, speedily summoning his ministers, Guha, the ruler of the Niṣādas, for his part spoke to one of them as follows : (5)

Meaning

“Quickly bring to the landing-place a beautiful and stout boat, duly equipped with oars and a helmsman, by which Śrī Rāma and his party could easily ferry across.” (6)

Meaning

Hearing the aforesaid command of Guha, the great minister of Guha departed and, bringing a charming boat to the nearest landing-place, reported the compliance to Guha. (7)

Meaning

Folding his hands, the said Guha then said to Śrī Rāma, “Here is the boat ready, my lord! What more shall I do for you? (8)

Meaning

“Here is a boat brought for you, O tiger among men, to cross the Gaṅgā (flowing towards the sea), O prince, effulgent as the son of a divinity ! Pray, get into it promptly, O observer of noble vows !” The exceptionally glorious Śrī Rāma thereupon spoke to Guha as follows : “My desire has been accomplished by you. Please have everything placed in the boat quickly.”(9-10)

Meaning

Having equipped themselves with an armour each and fastened their quivers and swords to their person, the two archers, Śrī Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, scions of Raghu, with Sītā then sought the said Gaṅgā through the same landing-place as was resorted to by others. (11)

Meaning

Humbly approaching Śrī Rāma, who knew what is right and stood ready to leave, the charioteer humbly spoke with folded hands as follows : “What shall I do?” (12)

Meaning

Touching Sumantra with his auspicious right hand, Śrī Rāma (son of Daśaratha) thereupon replied to him, “Return speedily to the king’s presence, O Sumantra, and do not lose your presence of mind.” (13)

Meaning

“Please return,” said he to Sumantra and added, “this much is enough service to me. Leaving the chariot, we shall henceforth proceed to the great forest of Daṇḍaka on foot.” (14)

Meaning

Distressed to find himself dismissed, the said charioteer, Sumantra, for his part submitted as follows to Śrī Rāma, a scion of Ikṣwāku, a tiger among men : (15)

Meaning

“That destiny, by which has been brought about your exile in the forest with your consort and younger brother like that of a common man, has never been set aside by any man in this world. (16)

Meaning

“I believe there is no gain in leading the austere life of a religious student in the house of one’s teacher, in studying the Vedas as an integral part of such a life or even in cultivating tenderness and guilelessness, when adversity has come even to you in the shape of exile. (17)

Meaning

“Living as an exile in the forest with Sītā, a princess of the Videha kingdom, and younger brother, O scion of Raghu, you will surely attain the same exalted position as one who has conquered all the worlds. (18)

Meaning

“We are actually ruined, O Rāma, in that, forsaken by you, we shall surely fall under the sway of the sinful Kaikeyī and reap suffering.” (19)

Meaning

Speaking thus in a strain worthy of himself, Sumantra, the charioteer, then wept long, stricken with sorrow as he was to see with his mental eyes Śrī Rāma gone to some distance. (20)

Meaning

When his tears got dried up and the charioteer had sipped some water and got purified (the tears having brought defilement in him), Śrī Rāma for his part repeatedly spoke to him in a sweet tone as follows : (21)

Meaning

“I do not perceive anyone who is as great a friend of the Ikṣwākus as you are. Pray, act in such wise that King Daśaratha may not grieve for me. (22)

Meaning

“The Emperor is not only confused in mind through grief, he is aged too and has his host of desires (to see me installed as Prince Regent and so on) thwarted. Hence I tell you this : (23)

Meaning

“Whatever and howsoever that high-souled Emperor may enjoin you to do with intent to oblige mother Kaikeyī should be unhesitatingly done by you. (24)

Meaning

“Kings rule their states only with this end in view that their will may not be crossed in any undertaking. (25)

Meaning

“Handle everything in such a way, O Sumantra, that the said Emperor neither gets displeased nor does he feel distressed through grief. (26)

Meaning

“Only after greeting the old and venerable king, who has never known suffering and has subdued his senses, make you this submission to him on my behalf :(27)

Meaning

“ ‘Neither do I grieve nor does Lakṣmaṇa nor Sītā feel sorry that we have been uprooted from Ayodhyā or that we are going to dwell in the forest. (28)

Meaning

“ ‘When fourteen years have elapsed, you will once more see Lakṣmaṇa, myself and Sītā too returned apace (from the forest).’ (29)

Meaning

“Having repeated as aforesaid to the king and my mother (Kausalyā), O Sumantra, as well as to the other queens alongwith Sumitrā, as also to Kaikeyī, tell Kausalyā that I am keeping good health. Then convey salutations at her feet on behalf of Sītā as well as myself, the elder brother, and of Lakṣmaṇa. (30-31)

Meaning

“Also submit to the Emperor, my father, ‘Pray, get Bharata soon. And when returned from his maternal uncle’s, Bharata should be installed in the office intended for him by Your Majesty. (32)

Meaning

“ ‘When you have met and embraced Bharata and installed him in the office of Prince Regent, the agony caused by the remorse felt by you on our account will no longer be able to overpower you.’ (33)

Meaning

“Bharata too should be exhorted in the following words : ‘You should behave towards all your mothers without distinction in the same way as you do towards the king (your father). (34)

Meaning

“ ‘Even as Kaikeyī and Sumitrā too are equally worthy of respect to you, more so is my mother, Queen Kausalyā, who is senior to all. (35)

Meaning

“ ‘If you accept the office of Prince Regent with intent to please our father, it will be possible for you to thrive happily in both the worlds (this world and the next).’ ”(36)

Meaning

Hearing the whole of the aforesaid discourse when instructed (as above) by Śrī Rāma with a view to his being sent back to Ayodhyā, Sumantra lovingly replied to him as follows : (37)

Meaning

“If I speak to you in an unfaltering tone due to affection and do not speak with reverence (which is due to you as my master), you ought in fact to forgive my mode of speech, considering me as full of devotion to you. (38)

Meaning

“Bereft of you, how shall I actually return to that city of Ayodhyā, which through separation from you has been reduced to the state of a mother stricken with grief due to separation from her son, O dear child? (39)

Meaning

“The people of Ayodhyā were really torn with grief even to see this chariot with Śrī Rāma (yourself) at the time of your departure from Ayodhyā. On seeing it without Śrī Rāma this time that city itself may be riven in two. (40)

Meaning

“The city will be reduced to a sad plight on seeing this chariot without you, even as the army of a hero on seeing his chariot with the charioteer alone surviving, the warrior having been killed in battle. (41)

Meaning

“Thinking of you, who though dwelling afar, are ever mentally present before them, the people of Ayodhyā must have gone without their food and drink today. (42)

Meaning

“The great confusion that ensued, on (the occasion of) your exile, among the people of Ayodhyā, whose mind was depressed through grief on your account, was witnessed by you with your own eyes, O Rāma ! (43)

Meaning

“Nay, perceiving me alone with the chariot, the people of Ayodhyā will raise a cry of distress a hundred times louder than that which was actually raised by them at the time of your banishment. (44)

Meaning

“Again, shall I falsely submit to the queen, Kausalyā, as follows : ‘Your son, Rāma, has been conveyed to his maternal uncle’s; pray, do not give way to agony’. (45)

Meaning

“I dare not make such a false report, even though it is pleasing to the ear, and save her from agony for sometime. On the other hand, how can I make a correct yet unpalatable report that Rāma has proceeded to the forest? (46)

Meaning

“Even if you insist on my returning to Ayodhyā at all events, how will the excellent horses drawing the chariot, which are subject to my control, and transport only your kindred and yourself, draw the chariot without you? (47)

Meaning

“Therefore, O sinless prince, I shall not be able to return to Ayodhyā even if I try to do so without you. You ought under such circumstances to allow me to follow you to share your exile in the forest. (48)

Meaning

“If you still insist on leaving me, even though I solicit you to take me with you, I shall enter a fire, chariot and all, on this spot the moment I am forsaken by you. (49)

Meaning

“With the help of the chariot, O scion of Raghu, I shall repel all those creatures that cause interruption in your austerities in the forest. (50)

Meaning

“By your kind offices the pleasure of driving your chariot was secured by me. By your grace alone I hope this time to enjoy the pleasure of dwelling with you in the forest. (51)

Meaning

“Be gracious to me by allowing me to follow you to the forest. I long to be your close associate in the forest. I wish to hear your loving assent in the words ‘Be my close associate !’ (52)

Meaning

“These horses too, O heroic prince, if they get an opportunity to serve you while you dwell in the forest, will attain the highest destiny by serving their beloved master. (53)

Meaning

“Dwelling in the forest with you I shall render service to you with my head bent low, and in order to be allowed this privilege I quit for good in everyway Ayodhyā and even heaven, the realm of gods. (54)

Meaning

“Bereft of you, Ayodhyā is incapable of being entered by me much in the same way as Amarāvatī, the capital of the mighty Indra, is inaccessible to a man of sinful deeds. (55)

Meaning

“Indeed this is my ambition that when your exile in the forest has come to an end, I may convey you back to Ayodhyā in this very chariot. (56)

Meaning

“So long as I remain with you in the forest, fourteen years will undoubtedly slip away past me as though reduced to as many moments; whereas if I stay away from you they will multiply a hundredfold. (57)

Meaning

“O prince, who are so fond of your dependants, you ought not to desert me, your devoted servant, standing resolved to tread on the path chosen by the son of his master and ever keeping within bounds.” (58)

Meaning

Śrī Rāma, for his part, compassionate as he was towards his dependants, replied as follows to Sumantra, who was piteously supplicating again and again in many ways as aforesaid : (59)

Meaning

“I know your supreme devotion to me, O charioteer, so fond of your master ! Nevertheless, pray, hear wherefore I send you back to Ayodhyā from here. (60)

Meaning

“Seeing you returned to the capital, my youngest mother, Kaikeyī, should feel convinced that I, Rāma, have left for the forest. (61)

Meaning

“Otherwise in the event of your remaining with me, let not Kaikeyī—who is not going to derive satisfaction otherwise even on my having gone into exile in the forest—suspect the pious king to be a liar. (62)

Meaning

“This is my foremost intention in sending you back to Ayodhyā that my youngest mother, Kaikeyī, should secure the kingdom of Ayodhyā, protected by Bharata and thus ruled by her own son, in good condition and this will be possible only on your returning to Ayodhyā; for till then the possibility of my returning to Ayodhyā will not be completely ruled out and till then Bharata too will not be called back to Ayodhyā and everyone will remain in a state of suspense. (63)

Meaning

“For my pleasure and for the pleasure of the Emperor, therefore, O Sumantra, return you to the capital and deliver all the messages that you have been asked to deliver, each in the way you have been asked to do.” (64)

Meaning

Having offered explanation to the charioteer as aforesaid and consoling him again and again, Śrī Rāma, who was not feeling the least timorous, gave the following reasoned instructions to Guha : (65)

Meaning

“It is not proper for me on this occasion to dwell, as I am doing, in a forest in which my own men are present. Therefore, an abode must be taken up by me in a hermitage in an uninhabited region and the procedure to be followed in this behalf must be observed by me. (66)

Meaning

“Adopting with the concurrence of Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa a discipline in the shape of eating wild fruits, roots and bulbs etc., and reposing on the ground and so on, which serves as an embellishment for ascetics, seeking as I do the spiritual welfare of my father, and wearing matted hair, I should like to proceed further. Therefore, please bring the milk-like exudation of a banyan tree.” Guha fetched such exudation at once for the prince. (67-68)

Meaning

With that exudation Śrī Rāma, a tiger among men, who was possessed of long arms, formed his own locks as well as those of Lakṣmaṇa (who had also taken a vow of ascetic life) into a mass of clotted hair and thus wore the distinguishing mark of an ascetic in the shape of matted hair. (69)

Meaning

Clad in the bark of trees and wearing a rounded mass of matted locks on their head those two brothers, Śrī Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, looked charming at that time like two Ṛṣis (ascetic sages). (70)

Meaning

Having temporarily adopted the ways of a hermit alongwith Lakṣmaṇa and accepted the vow of an ascetic life, Śrī Rāma then spoke as follows to his helpmate, Guha : (71)

Meaning

“Remain vigilant in the matter of your army, exchequer, fortress and the people, O Guha; for a state is recognized as most difficult to protect.” (72)

Meaning

Having duly taken leave of the celebrated Guha, and remaining undisturbed all the time, Śrī Rāma, the delight of the Ikṣwākus, then quickly departed alongwith his consort, Sītā, and with Lakṣmaṇa. (73)

Meaning

Beholding a boat on the bank of the river and keen to cross the swift-flowing Gaṅgā, Śrī Rāma, the delight of the Ikṣwākus, for his part spoke to Lakṣmaṇa as follows : (74)

Meaning

“Holding the boat standing there and thereby steadying it, help the timid Sītā to get into it slowly and step you into it forthwith, O lion among men !” (75)

Meaning

Hearing the command of his elder brother and helping Sītā, a princess of Mithilā, to get into the boat first, the self-possessed Lakṣmaṇa stepped into the boat afterwards, thus acting in full conformity with his brother’s command. (76)

Meaning

The glorious Rāma (elder brother of Lakṣmaṇa) himself got into the boat last; and after that Guha, the ruler of the Niṣādas, commanded his kinsmen to row the boat across the stream. (77)

Meaning

Having got into the aforesaid boat, Śrī Rāma, a scion of Raghu, for his part, who was possessed of unique splendour, then recited a sacred text (दैवी नावम् etc.,) fit for the Brāhmaṇas and Kṣatriyas alike and conducive to his own good. (78)

Meaning

Nay, sipping the water of the Gaṅgā according to the scriptural ordinance and feeling highly gratified, Śrī Rāma with Sītā bowed low to that river and Lakṣmaṇa, the great car-warrior, followed suit. (79)

Meaning

Further, bidding farewell to Sumantra as well as to the celebrated Guha and his army and, occupying his seat in the boat, Śrī Rāma for his part urged the boatmen to row the boat. (80)

Meaning

Rowed by the boatmen and directed by the helmsman, the boat, propelled by the swift movement of the beautiful oars, moved swiftly across the water. (81)

Meaning

Having duly reached the middle of the Gaṅgā, Sītā, a princess of the Videha kingdom, for her part, who was irreproachable in everyway, spoke as follows with joined palms to the said river : (82)

Meaning

“Protected on all sides by you, O mother Gaṅgā, may this son of the wise Emperor Daśaratha execute this decree of the Emperor to remain in exile for fourteen years. (83)

Meaning

“When, having sojourned in the forest for full fourteen years, he arrives at your bank once more with his younger brother, Lakṣmaṇa, and myself, then, returned in safety, O blessed goddess, with all my desires fulfilled, O Gaṅgā, I shall worship you with great delight. (84-85)

Meaning

“Since you, O goddess, flowing through heaven, earth and the subterranean regions, include in your basin the realm of Brahmā (the outermost of the six spheres enveloping the earth) and are vividly seen on this terrestrial plane as a consort of the Ocean-king, the deity presiding over the oceans, I, Sītā, greet and extol you, O charming goddess ! When Śrī Rāma, a tiger among men, has safely returned and regained his throne, I shall give away a lakh of cows as well as articles of wearing apparel and food-stuffs of excellent quality to the Brahmans with intent to please you. (86—88)

Meaning

“Having returned to Ayodhyā, I shall worship you with thousand and one articles not available even to gods as well as with lands free from revenue, raiment and cooked rice*. Be pleased with me, O goddess ! (89)

Meaning

“Nay, I shall without doubt offer worship to all the deities that have their abode on your banks as well as to all sacred spots and sites on your banks. (90)

Meaning

“May the sinless Rāma, who is possessed of mighty arms for his part re-enter Ayodhyā from the forest alongwith Lakṣmaṇa and myself, O sinless goddess !” (91)

Meaning

Praying to Gaṅgā as aforesaid, the celebrated Sītā, who was irreproachable in everyway and devoted to her husband, speedily reached the southern bank. (92)

Meaning

Having safely reached the aforesaid bank and leaving the boat, Śrī Rāma, a jewel among men, the chastiser of his foes, for his part, proceeded further with his younger brother, Lakṣmaṇa and Sītā, a princess of the Videha kingdom. (93)

Meaning

The mighty-armed prince now said to Lakṣmaṇa (who heightened the joy of Sumitrā). “Be prepared for the protection of Sītā in the inhabited as well as in the uninhabited areas. (94)

Meaning

“Protection needs must be afforded in an uninhabited forest to the weaker sex by men like me, who maintain the moral order. Therefore, lead the way, O son of Sumitrā, and let Sītā follow you. (95)

Meaning

“I, for my part, shall follow in the rear, protecting Sītā as well as yourself from behind; for protection must be vouchsafed by us to one another, O jewel among men! (96)

Meaning

“In fact, no severe trial has gone out of possibility as yet. On the other hand, Sītā, a princess of the Videha kingdom, will experience only today, the suffering entailed by a sojourn in the forest. (97)

Meaning

“She will enter today a forest in which traces of blades of grass etc., having been crushed under the feet of men are no longer visible, there being no traffic of men, which is utterly devoid of fields and gardens, has a rugged surface and is full of yawning chasms etc.” (98)

Meaning

Hearing the advice of Śrī Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa led the way, Sītā following him, and immediately after Sītā followed Śrī Rāma, a scion of Raghu, the delight of the Raghus. (99)

Meaning

Constantly gazing on Śrī Rāma, who had soon reached the other bank of the Gaṅgā, and his vision having failed due to the long distance covered by the exiles in the meantime, Sumantra, who was full of remorse and afflicted too, shed tears of grief over his separation from Śrī Rāma. (100)

Meaning

Having crossed the great river Gaṅgā, the high-souled Śrī Rāma, who vied in glory with the guardians of the spheres and was capable of bestowing boons, thence reached step by step the prosperous and happy land of Vatsa, the land comprised between the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā rivers, which contained rows of beautiful crops. (101)

Meaning

Having hunted for love of sport four large deer, viz., a Varāha, Ṛśya, Pṛṣata and Mahāruru (the four principal species of deer), and taking with them articles of food consisting of fruits etc. fit for being consigned as an oblation into the sacred fire, now that they felt hungry (after sport), the two brothers quickly sought the foot of a tree where they had evidently stationed Sītā within their sight for the time they were engaged in sport, for taking rest after supper during the night. (102)