June 6 - Sargas 17 and 18 of Ayodhya Kanda.
Sri Rama proceeds to the Antahpura of the palace to meet king Dasharatha, after witnessing the great pomp and festivities on the highway. What awaits him there is compared by Valmiki to someone's stepping on a king cobra.
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ददर्श तं राजपथं दिवि देवपतिर्यथा ।
दध्यक्षतहविर्लाजधूपैरगुरुचन्दनैः ॥
यश्च रामं न पश्येत्तु यं च रामो न पश्यति ।
निन्दितः सर्वलोकेषु स्वात्माप्येनं विगर्हते ॥
सर्वेषु स हि धर्मात्मा वर्णानां कुरुते दयाम् ।
चतुर्णां हि वयःस्थानां तेन ते तमनुव्रताः ॥
चतुष्पथान् देवपथांश्चैत्यांश्चायतनानि च ।
प्रदक्षिणं परिहरज्जगाम नृपतेः सुतः ॥
Just like Indra in a procession in heaven, Sri Rama witnessed the royal highway filled with people carrying oblatory materials like curd, sanctified rice grains, benedictory grains for sprinkling, homa offerings, incense, sandal wood and perfumes.
Anyone who missed seeing Sri Rama thus, or missed getting his gracious glance, was indeed unfortunate and reproachable in all the worlds for having insulted his own soul.
Sri Rama showed cordiality and grace in the way he acknowledged people of all four castes and all four age-groups, and they also showered their love on him.
Sri Rama circumambulated important road crossings, temples, places sacred to local tutelary deities, and schools, showing reverence.
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By the way this puts paid to the opinions voiced by neo-scholars that India had no temples before the advent of Buddha. This is not the first time we have encountered temples in Valmiki Ramayana which is thousands of years old!
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स ददर्शासने रामो विषण्णं पितरं शुभे ।
कैकेय्या सहितं दीनं मुखेन परिशुष्यता ॥
Sri Rama entered the antahpura and saw his father seated on a royal couch along with Kaikeyi. He was looking absolutely wretched and miserable and life seemed to have drained off his face.
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Sri Rama was alarmed to see his father barely utter the his name when he bowed to him and Kaikeyi. Valmiki compares Dasharatha's appearance to a sea turbulent with waves, an eclipsed sun, and a sage with the look of someone who has uttered a lie. It was as if Rama had stepped on a serpent. Rama wondered how his father displayed no effusive affection and greeting like he had always done on seeing him. Sri Rama displayed his concern and distress when he addressed Kaikeyi:
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कच्चिन्मया नापराद्धमज्ञानाद् येन मे पिता ।
कुपितस्तन्ममाचक्ष्व त्वमेवैनं प्रदासय ॥
कच्चिन्न किन्चिद् भरते कुमारे प्रियदर्शने ।
शत्रुघ्ने वा महासत्त्वे मातृृणां वा ममाशुभम्। ॥
"Oh mother, tell me if I have caused any inadvertent offence to my father that has made him angry. Please tell me and seek pardon from him on my behalf. Have I done any harm to his dear son Bharata, or the valiant Shatrughna, or to any of my mothers to occasion this mood in my father?"
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Sri Rama says if this is so, he will not survive for even an hour. "I consider my father as my living god." He adds, "Or, perhaps, mother Kaikeyi, has the king been offended by you in anger or haste? Please tell me at once."
The hard-hearted Kaikeyi speaks. Just to quote a couple of shlokas to lay bare her scheme.
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न राजा कुपितो राम व्यसनं नास्य किञ्चन ।
किञ्चिन्मनोगतं त्वस्य त्वद्भयान्नानुभाषते ॥
धर्ममूलमिदं राम विदितं च सतामपि ।
तत् सत्यं न त्यजेद् राजा कुपितस्त्वत्कृते यथा ॥
"Oh Rama, the king is neither angry or in any trouble. He has something in his mind which he is not telling you out of fear for you. After all, this is a matter of righteousness which is well known to good people and upheld as paramount. That should not be betrayed by the king just because he is upset on your behalf."
Sri Rama is now in utter dismay. He says,
अहो धिङ् नार्हसे देवि वक्तुं ममीदृशं वचः ।
अहं हि वचनाद् राज्ञः पतेयमपि पावके ॥
"Fie, oh lady, don't insinuate this. To uphold my father's word, I shall readily leap into the fire."
Sri Rama speaks a few more lines like this, showing that she dare not suggest that either the king or he were likely to betray truth and righteousness. Then Kaikeyi says:
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पुरा देवासुरे युद्धे पित्रा ते मम राघव ।
रक्षितेन वरौ दत्तौ सशल्येन महारणे ॥
तत्र मे याचितो राजा भरतस्याभिषेचनम् ।
गमनं दण्डकारण्ये तव चाद्यैव राघव ॥
यदि सत्यप्रतिज्ञं त्वं पितरं कर्तुमर्हसि ।
आत्मानं च नरश्रेष्ठ मम वाक्यमिदं श्रृणु ॥
भरतश्चाभिषिज्येत यदेतदभिषेचनम् ।
त्वदर्थे विहितं राज्ञा तेन सर्वेण राघव ॥
सप्त सप्त च वर्षाणि दण्डकार्ण्यमाश्रितः ।
अभिषेकमिदं त्यक्त्वा जटाचीरधरो भव ॥
"Oh Raghava, long ago, during the war between gods and demons, two boons were granted to me by the king after I had saved him from death. I have now invoked those two boons - the first being that Bharata should be crowned and the second that you should go away to Dandakaranya today itself, without any delay whatsoever.
"If you really desire to uphold truth and save the king, then hear these words of mine carefully. I want Bharata to be ceremoniously installed as the Yuvaraja, heir apparent. Bharata should be crowned instead of you, with all the grand paraphernalia that has been got up by the king for the ceremony. You shall spend fourteen years inside the Dandakaranya forest, after abandoning this coronation, and sporting matted locks and barks of trees for clothes."
इतीव तस्यां परुषं वदन्त्यां
न चैव रामः प्रविवेश शोकम् ।
प्रविव्यथे चापि महानुभावो
राजा च पुत्रव्यसनाभितप्तः ॥
Hearing these extremely harsh words from Kaikeyi, Sri Rama actually did not enter grief. But the noble king, with all his glorious reputation, was plunged into burning sorrow on account of the impending banishment of Rama and the consequent separation from him.
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॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
