जय श्रीराम!
श्रुत्वा तथाविधं मृत्युं कैकेयीतनयः पितुः ।
मातुर्न केवलं स्वस्याः श्रियोऽप्यासीत् पराङ्मुखः ॥१२.१३॥
Notes: Bharata returns to a desolate and mourning Ayodhyā, and finds a strange abhorrence of him from everyone in the capital. He is advised to go and see his mother at once. There, she reveals her macabre plan hatched to make him the king, and how his brother has been sent away to the forest as she desired. She also tells Bharata his father has died. Bharata sees the horror of his mother's plan and its indelible consequence on the family, their reputation, and the country.
Bharata's reaction is unforgettably captured in the old film embedded above. Sivaji Ganesan brings to the silver screen the greatness of Bharata and his unfathomable pathos and sense of wrong when he is told by Kaikeyī what was her "great scheme".
In the whole history of our literature, nobody commands as much sympathy and admiration as Bharata for his character and sense of right and wrong. Here, Kalidāsa says, 'When Bharata was informed of his father's demise caused by Kaikeyī's scheme, he categorically spurned her as well as the supposed honour of Yuvarāja imposed on him."
***
जय श्रीराम!
