Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 91

Meaning

The celebrated sage then invited to a hospitable reception Bharata, the son of Kaikeyī, who had made up his mind (as shown before) to stay in that very hermitage for the night. (1)

Meaning

Bharata for his part said to Bharadwāja, “Sure enough the kind of hospitality which could possibly be arranged in a forest has already been shown by you to us just now in the form of water to wash our feet and hands with and fruit and roots.” (2)

Meaning

Bharadwāja forthwith replied to Bharata as follows, laughing heartily as it were: “I know you to be full of affection to me. As such you are likely to be pleased with anything and everything that is offered to you. (3)

Meaning

“I, however, only wish to feed this army of yours. And you ought to do that in which my pleasure lies, O jewel among men ! (4)

Meaning

“Moreover, wherefore did you come here encamping the army at a distance from my hermitage? Why did you not turn up here, army and all, O jewel among men?’’ (5)

Meaning

Bharata with folded hands replied as follows to the sage, whose only wealth was his asceticism : “I did not turn up with the army for fear of displeasing you; O venerable sage ! (6)

Meaning

“In fact, distance should always be maintained from ascetics (lest they be disturbed) in their own lands by a King or a King’s son under similar circumstances, Your Holiness ! (7)

Meaning

“Best specimens of horses as well as men and excellent elephants in rut are following in my wake occupying a large area. (8)

Meaning

“I came away from that place where the troops have been encamped all alone, accompanied by Sage Vasiṣṭha, lest they should destroy the trees, foul the waters and land as well as the huts in the hermitage.” (9)

Meaning

Commanded by the eminent sage in the following words : “Let the army be brought hither !’’ Bharata forthwith caused the army to be duly brought all the way to the hermitage accordingly. (10)

Meaning

Entering the fire-sanctuary, sipping water (thrice according to the Śruti text त्रिराचामेत् with the recitation of the Divine Names for self-purification) and wiping the lips twice according to the Vedic injunction द्विः परिमृज्य, the sage next invoked in the following words Viśwakarmā (the architect of gods) for providing hospitality to the army of Prince Bharata: (11)

Meaning

“I invoke god Viśwakarmā, who is also the divine carpenter (Twaṣṭā). I wish to provide hospitality (to the army of Prince Bharata). Let everything be got ready in that connection for me. (12)

Meaning

“I further invoke the presence of the three gods viz., Yama, Varuṇa and Kubera, who are the guardians of the spheres, headed by Indra, the ruler of gods. I wish to provide hospitality to the army of Prince Bharata. Let everything be got ready for me towards that end. (13)

Meaning

“Let all the rivers that flow in an easterly direction as well as those flowing in a westerly direction on the surface of the earth as also in the aerial region meet today in this tract of land. (14)

Meaning

“Let some of those rivers bear along Maireya (a kind of wine made from date palms etc.,) others highly refined Surā (another species of wine made from jaggery, honey and flour), and still others cool water, delicious like the juice of sugarcane. (15)

Meaning

“I also invoke the presence of the celestial Gandharvas Viśwāvasu, Hāhā and Hūhū and even so all the celestial nymphs alongwith the other celestial Gandharvas. (16)

Meaning

“I invoke the Apsarā named Ghṛtācī and Viśwācī, Miśrakeśī, Alambuṣā, Nāgadattā and Hemā as also Somā, who has taken up her abode on a mountain called Mahendra as well as all the nymphs that wait upon Indra, the ruler of paradise, as also the dancing girls that wait upon Brahmā in Brahmaloka alongwith their teacher, Tumburu and all external appendage such as musical instruments. (17-18)

Meaning

“In the same way let that celestial grove known by the name of Caitraratha presided over by Kubera, the guardian of the northern quarter, which is located in the land of the Uttara Kurus (in the north of India) and the trees of which are clothed with leaves in the form of heavenly raiment and jewels and perpetually bear fruits in the form of heavenly damsels, actually apppear at this very spot. (19)

Meaning

“Let the glorious moon-god, the diety presiding over the annual plants, place at my disposal abundant excellent food of every variety, consisting of dishes requiring mastication as well as those that can be gulped without mastication, nay those that can be sucked and those that require to be licked, and also lovely garlands dropped straight from trees, also drinks such as wine and meats of various kinds.’’ (20-21)

Meaning

So did the sage of noble vows, who is rich in concentration of mind and endowed with matchless glory too, utter words of invocation pronounced according to the rules of phonetics and accented according to the rules of grammar. (22)

Meaning

Even as the sage invoked the aforesaid gods with his mind, sitting with his face turned towards the east, his palms joined together in supplication, all those deities that had been invoked by the sage came one by one before him. (23)

Meaning

Thereupon a cool breeze, which was most delightful to the touch and which wiped one’s sweat through mere contact blew gently touching the Malaya and Dardura mountains, clothed with forests of sandalwood trees. (24)

Meaning

Then fell down thick showers of heavenly flowers and the sound of celestial kettledrums was heard in all the quarters. (25)

Meaning

Nay, excellent breezes began incessantly to blow and bevies of celestial nymphs began to dance. Heavenly Gandharvas beautifully sang and Vinas gave forth melodies. (26)

Meaning

That sound of vocal and instrumental music—which rose and fell at intervals, was soft and of a moderate pitch and endowed with the virtue of a uniform measure of time—penetrated into heaven, earth and the ears of living beings. (27)

Meaning

While that heavenly melody, agreeable to the ears of men, came in that way, the army of Bharata beheld the handiwork of Viśwakarmā. (28)

Meaning

The entire stretch of land within a radius of forty miles not only turned even but was also carpeted with many patches of fresh grass resembling blue cat’s-eye gems in hue. (29)

Meaning

In that land sprang up Bel, Kapittha (lit., on which monkeys dwell), Panasa (the bread-fruit), Bījapūraka (citron), Āmalakī (emblic myrobalan) and mango trees adorned with fruits. (30)

Meaning

Nay, from the territory of the Uttara Kuru’s came the grove (presided over by Kubera, the god of riches, and known by the name of Caitraratha) rich in products worthy of being enjoyed by heavenly beings, as well as a delightful stream hemmed in with a number of trees growing on its banks. (31)

Meaning

There stood up white mansions each consisting of four rooms, as well as stables for elephants and horses and charming citygates with mansions and palaces. (32)

Meaning

There also stood a royal palace, looking like a white cloud and provided with a lovely arched doorway, nay, decorated with white garlands and sprinkled with exquisite scents. (33)

Meaning

It was quadrilateral in shape, commodious, furnished with couches, seats and palanquins, supplied with all delicious drinks and provided with excellent food and clothing. (34)

Meaning

Victuals of every description had been kept ready there as well as cleaned vessels free from dirt. All kinds of seats had been arranged at proper places and the palace looked charming with superb couches duly covered with counterpanes. (35)

Meaning

Permitted by the eminent sage, Bharadwāja, Prince Bharata, son of Kaikeyī, who was distinguished by unusually long arms, duly entered that palace richly stocked with precious stones. (36)

Meaning

All the aforesaid counsellors accompanied by family-priests also followed suit and were filled with delight to see that excellent get-up of houses. (37)

Meaning

Alongwith the counsellors Bharata went clockwise round the excellent royal throne as well as round the whisk made from the tail of a yak and the royal umbrella kept there, as if round a sovereign. (38)

Meaning

Bowing down low to Śrī Rāma as though the latter were seated on it, he paid homage to the throne itself and, taking the whisk, sat down on the seat meant for the chief minister. (39)

Meaning

All the counsellors and family-priests too sat down in order of precedence. Then sat down the generalissimo and afterwards the officer-in-charge of the encampment. (40)

Meaning

Then after a short while streams having milk thickened with rice, in place of mud, flowed past Bharata on that site at the command of Bharadwāja. (41)

Meaning

On both the banks of these streams rose excellent and lovely houses plastered with lime and brought into being by the grace of the Brāhmaṇa sage, Bharadwāja. (42)

Meaning

Nay, during that very hour arrived there twenty thousand women adorned with excellent jewels and sent by Brahmā, the creator. (43)

Meaning

There also came twenty thousand women decked with ornaments of gold, gems and pearls and coral sent by Kubera. There also arrived from the Nandana grove in paradise twenty thousand celestial nymphs, embraced by whom a man looked as though seized with a fit of insanity.* (44-45)

Meaning

The following chiefs of Gandharvas—Nārada, Tumburu and Gopa—who shone like the sun because of their splendour, began to sing before Bharata. (46)

Meaning

Alambuṣā, Miśrakeśī, Puṇḍarīkā and Vāmanā started dancing in the presence of Bharata under orders of Bharadwāja. (47)

Meaning

Those celestial flowers which are found solely among gods and those which exist in the grove named Caitraratha, belonging to Kubera, the god of riches, were seen at Prayāga, thanks to the spiritual might of Bharadwāja. (48)

Meaning

Bel trees assumed the role of playing on clay tomtoms, Vibhītaka trees picked up a pair of cymbals known by the name of Śāmyā in order to strike them so as to keep time and Peepul trees played the role of dancers thanks to the spiritual might of Bharadwāja. (49)

Meaning

Then deodars, palmyra and Tilaka trees alongwith Tamāla trees arrived there highly rejoiced, assuming the forms of hunchbacks and dwarfs to render services to Bharata. (50)

Meaning

Siṁśapās (Aśoka trees), Amalakīs (emblic myrobalan), Jambūs (rose-apple trees); Mālatī, Mallikā and Jāti and whatever other trees bearing female names and creepers there were in the forest took up their abode in the hermitage of Bharadwāja assuming the form of young women in order to be able to serve Bharata. (51)

Meaning

They said to the troops: “Drink wine, O soldiers addicted to drinking, and drink milk thickened with rice, O troops stricken with hunger ! Let meats also, eminently fit for sacrifice, be eaten, as you will. One will get whatever one seeks.” (52)

Meaning

A batch of seven or eight young women bathed every single man on the charming river-banks after first daubing his body with a fragrant paste of oil-seeds and then rubbing off the dirt. (53)

Meaning

There also appeared on the scene women with big eyes, kneading the feet of men; nay, wiping off the moisture on their body, the lovely women gave them delicious beverages to drink in seclusion. (54)

Meaning

The keepers (created and detailed by Bharadwāja) of the animals carrying Bharata’s men on their backs duly fed the horses, elephants, donkeys, camels as well as the bullocks with articles fit for their consumption. (55)

Meaning

Coaxing the animals carrying the gallant warriors of Ikṣwāku’s race on their back, the aforesaid very mighty keepers fed them with pieces of sugarcane as well as with fried grains of paddy soaked in honey. (56)

Meaning

The groom did not recognize the horse in his charge nor did the elephant-keeper recognize his charge (since the animals were fed and groomed so well that they got changed beyond recognition). The aforesaid army appeared intoxicated, maddened and enraptured on that spot. (57)

Meaning

Sated with all desired enjoyments and smeared with red sandal-paste, the troops, attended by hosts of celestial nymphs, uttered the following words : (58)

Meaning

“We shall neither return to Ayodhyā nor go to the Daṇḍaka forest. Let all be well with Bharata because of whom we are enjoying heavenly delights here on earth and let lasting happiness be the lot of Śrī Rāma as a foretaste of whose blessed sight we have secured these heavenly enjoyments !’’ (59)

Meaning

So did the foot soldiers as well as those mounted on horses and elephants and their keepers too, who in their inebriety considered themselves independent (lit., without a master) on receiving such attentions from the sage, utter the aforesaid words. (60)

Meaning

Extremely rejoiced to see the untold affluence and power of the sage, those men on that spot, who had followed Bharata in his journey to Citrakūṭa, to bring Śrī Rāma back to Ayodhyā, in their thousands thundered and said, “This is heaven indeed.’’ (61)

Meaning

Adorned with garlands the troops in their thousands ran in every direction dancing and laughing and singing. (62)

Meaning

In spite of their having partaken of that ambrosia-like food, their mind felt inclined to eat again the moment they saw those excellent dishes. (63)

Meaning

Servants and maid-servants as also the wives of the troops as well as the troops themselves—they all felt highly delighted, nay, all were supplied with a new set of clothes. (64)

Meaning

Elephants and donkeys and camels too as well as bullocks and horses, nay, even deer and birds in that region were fully nourished; hence they coveted nothing else. (65)

Meaning

No one in that area was clad in soiled attire, hungry or even untidy. Nor was any man seen with his hair soiled with dust. (66)

Meaning

Struck with wonder people beheld there placed all round, in thousands, gold vessels decorated with floral flags and filled with excellent seasoned articles of food prepared from bulbs known by the name of Vārahī, flavoured with Ptychotis ajowan, and well boiled in the decoction of fruits; as well as with flavoursome boiled pulses and spotless white boiled rice. (67-68)

Meaning

The wells in the precincts of the forest around the hermitage of Bharadwāja had their mud transformed into milk thickened with rice and sugar; the cows in that region were transformed into cows of plenty and the trees dripped honey. (69)

Meaning

The bigger wells with flights of stairs got filled with Maireya (a kind of intoxicating drink) and were banked with heaps of dainty meat of deer, peacocks and fowls dressed in intensely heated earthen vessels (perhaps for the use of Niṣādas and other low-caste people in the army of Bharata). (70)

Meaning

Thousands of gold vessels containing boiled rice, lakhs of gold cauldrons holding seasoned articles of food and millions of plates, also made of gold were to be seen there. (71)

Meaning

There appeared clay pans, smaller earthen vessels and big broad-mouthed clay vessels full of curds duly spiced with dry ginger etc., and tanks full of fragrant buttermilk tinged yellow with saffron and prepared a few hours back, as well as of buttermilk flavoured with cumin seeds, others full of white curds and still others of milk, as also heaps of sugar. (72-73)

Meaning

On the stairs for descent to the rivers people saw kept in large pans crushed emblic myrobalans and powdered fragrant substances and varied articles such as oils, hot water etc., useful for a bath. (74)

Meaning

They further beheld at every place in that area bundles of fresh white twigs with their one end crushed for being used as a tooth-brush, as well as the paste of white sandalwood for being used as a shampoo, kept in round covered wooden cases, perfectly cleaned mirrors as well as piles of textiles, as also thousands of pairs of wooden sandals and leather shoes, small caskets containing collyrium, combs, brushes for combing moustaches and beards, nay, umbrellas, and bows, armour and different kinds of beds and seats, tanks full of water worth drinking, feed for donkeys, camels, elephants and horses, as well as tanks, provided with excellent descents, where one could easily take a plunge, full of lilies and lotuses, resembling the sky in hue, containing limpid water and pleasing to bathe in and heaps of tender grass resembling the blue cat’s-eyes gem in hue for the consumption of animals. (75—79)

Meaning

The aforesaid men were amazed to see that entertainment, wonderful like a dream, provided so long for Bharata by the eminent sage Bharadwāja. (80)

Meaning

While the people that had followed Bharata in his journey to Citrakūṭa were still busy enjoying, as aforesaid, in that lovely hermitage of Bharadwāja the delights provided by the sage like so many gods in the Nandana grove in paradise, that night passed away. (81)

Meaning

Taking leave of Bharadwāja, those rivers as well as the Gandharvas (celestial musicians) and all the lovely women, viz., the celestial nymphs, returned even as they had come. (82)

Meaning

The people, however, remained flushed and drunk with wine much in the same way even at dawn; they stood smeared with the exquisite paste of aloe wood and sandalwood even as before; and the excellent celestial garlands of various kinds lay strewn here and there separately as fresh as at the beginning, crushed as they were by men through constant use for the whole night. (83)