Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 76

Meaning

To Bharata, the son of Kaikeyī, who was sore stricken with grief, as aforesaid, Sage Vasiṣṭha, the foremost of speakers, spoke as follows in a most polite language : (1)

Meaning

“Have done with grief, O highly illustrious prince ! May good betide you ! Perform now in an excellent way the funeral of the deceased king, which is now overdue.” (2)

Meaning

Hearing the admonition of Vasiṣṭha, Bharata, who knew what is right, fell prostrate and ordered all obsequies concerning his father to be taken in hand. (3)

Meaning

Taking the dead body of the king out of the vessel in which it lay immersed in oil, and placing Daśaratha—who was first laid on the ground and, though pale-faced, looked as though he were fast asleep—on an exquisite bier decked with various jewels, his son, Bharata, lamented as follows, sore distressed as he was : (4-5)

Meaning

“Having sent into exile Śrī Rāma as well as Lakṣmaṇa, possessed of great strength, at a time when I was away from home and had not yet returned, what did you intend to do, O king, knowing as you did what is right? (6)

Meaning

“Where will you go abandoning this distressed servant of yours, already bereft of Śrī Rāma, a veritable lion among men, who does great deeds without the least exertion, O great king? (7)

Meaning

“Now that you have departed for heaven, O dear father, and Śrī Rāma has retired to the woods, I wonder who will quietly meet the needs of the people and ensure the safety of their person and property in this capital of yours? (8)

Meaning

“Bereft of you and thus deprived of its lord, the earth does not look charming any more; nay, the city too appears to me cheerless as a night bereft of the moon.”(9)

Meaning

To Bharata, who was lamenting as aforesaid, afflicted in mind as he was, the eminent sage Vasiṣṭha for his part spoke again in the following words : (10)

Meaning

“Whatever funeral rites in relation to the deceased monarch ought to be done should be coolly and unhesitatingly gone through, O mighty-armed prince !” (11)

Meaning

Bowing to the aforesaid command of Vasiṣṭha in the words “Let it be so !” Bharata urged everyone, viz., the priests engaged for sacrificial purposes, family priests and the Ācāryas to make haste. (12)

Meaning

The sacred fires maintained by the king, that had been taken out of the fire-sanctuary on the latter’s death, were being worshipped by the priests engaged for sacrificial purposes and superintending priests according to the scriptural ordinance. (13)

Meaning

Having placed the king, whose consciousness had departed days ago, on a bier, the servants, who were feeling disconsolate, now bore him on their shoulders to the cremation ground, their throats choked with tears. (14)

Meaning

Scattering flowers of silver and gold and pieces of cloth of every description on the road, people walked ahead of the king. (15)

Meaning

While others fetching sandalwood, aloe, bdellium, the wood of Sarala (a species of pine) and Cerasus puddum and logs of deodar (the Himalayan cedar), made pile. (16)

Meaning

Nay, throwing other fragrant substances of various kinds into the funeral pile, the priests officiating at the obsequies laid the deceased emperor in the middle of the pyre at the cremation ground. (17)

Meaning

Pouring oblations into the fire, the aforesaid priests engaged for the benefit of the emperor then recited sacred texts relevant to the funeral rites; while those among the officiating priests who could recite the hymns of Sāmaveda, chanted them according to the rules. (18)

Meaning

Attended by elderly guards the king’s consorts likewise went out of the city to the cremation ground in palanquins and chariots according to their rank. (19)

Meaning

Then the priests officiating at the obsequies too as well as the ladies led by Kausalyā who were sore stricken with grief, went clockwise round the said monarch, who had performed sacrifices culminating in Aśwamedha. (20)

Meaning

There was heard on that occasion the noise of afflicted women wailing piteously in thousands like so many female cranes. (21)

Meaning

Having lamented again and again and crying helplessly, the king’s consorts got down from their chariots at the bank of the Sarayū. (22)

Meaning

Having offered water to the spirit of the deceased alongwith Bharata and entering the city once more, the king’s consorts as well as the counsellors and family priests spent the following ten days of their impurity caused by the emperor’s death in agony, reposing on the ground, their eyes filled with tears. (23)