July 13 - Sargas 91 and 92 of Ayodhya Kanda.
Valmiki never ceases to amaze me with his story telling. This has to be the original template for all the best of kavyas that showcase the kaleidoscopic splendour of our culture and its history.
Valmiki narrates that sage Bharadwaja offers to Bharata and his army a celestial feast that beggars description.
First of all, when Bharadwaja asks Bharata why he left behind his army some distance away and not bring them also to the ashrama, Bharata is frank :
ससैन्यो नोपयातोऽस्मि भगवन्भगवद्भयात्
"Revered sir, I did not bring along the army lest I incur your displeasure. After all, the army will mess up your pristine environment and litter the place as well as make a big racket."
Sage Bharadwaja smiles. He says, "Bharata, please bring over the army. I want to offer the best hospitality possible to you and your entire army tonight." Bharata remonstrates but to no avail. So he orders the army to come to the ashram.
Bharadwaja then summons the divine architect Vishwakarma and tells him that all facilities and arrangements should be made instantly to offer Bharata and his army an unforgettably grand feast and entertainment. It has to be on an unprecedented scale. Vishwakarma sets about it.
Valmiki describes the feast and entertainment in over 65 shlokas. It is beyond the dream of a hedonist. We have read of the orgiastic festivities of Roman debauchs. We have read of how Brahma comes and tempts Buddha when he is on the threshold of enlightenment. We have read how Vasishtha offers Vishwamitra, the king, and his army the best of hospitality. This scale goes above and beyond all that.
In an instant, palaces come up. The land is flattened and elaborate facilities are created. Food and drink flows limitlessly with mind-boggling variety. Drinks range from river water sweet like sugar cane juice to the best of wines. Celestial damsels that can ravish any man with just one look entertain the soldiers. Rivers and bathing ponds spring up. The soldiers are anointed, bathed, wined, and dined. Celestial musicians and heavenly dancers continue to entertain them through the night.
Even the horses, elephants, camels, donkeys and bullocks are fed their version of heavenly food made with honey and juicy ingredients.
***
Unlike Valmiki, I don't have an appetite to describe this further. Suffice it to say that the soldiers drawled amidst swigs of the best wine:
नैवाध्योयां गमिष्यामो न गमिष्याम दण्डकान् ।
कुशलं भरतस्यास्तु रामस्यास्तु तथा सुखम् ॥
इति पादातयोधाश्च हस्त्यश्वारोहबन्धकाः । अनाथास्तं विधिं लब्ध्वा वाचमेतामुदारयन् ॥
सम्प्रहृष्टा विनेदुस्ते नरास्तत्र सहस्रशः ।
भरतस्यानुयातारः स्वर्गोऽयमिति चाब्रुवन् ॥
" We are not going back to Ayodhya! We don't have to go to Dandaka. We will just be in this heaven.Blessed be Bharata for giving us this. May Sri Rama whose exile has occasioned this feast be happy wherever he may be."
Thus spoke the foot soldiers, cavalrymen, elephant riders and handlers. They woudn't ever in their lives have imagined such a good fortune. They proclaimed in thousands loudly their joy and there was a huge uproar of noise. The army that had accompanied Bharata felt that they were stationed in heaven.
***
Pause and think. Why did Bharadwaja make this happen? I can think of two reasons. He wanted to celebrate Bharata's goodness unstintingly. More so, a king may turn down power, but sense temptations are beyond anyone's normal levels of self-control. So perhaps Bharadwaja, the divine sage, wanted to test Bharata.
Bharata passed in flying colours.
***
Early morning, Bharata orders the army to get ready. He approaches sage Bharadwaja for permission to leave. The sage asks him, "Was the hospitality satisfactory? Were there any shortcomings?" Bharata replies that the sage has indeed given the army an unbelievable treat but it is time now for him to go and meet Sri Rama. Bharata requests detailed directions to reach Sri Rama. Bharadwaja instructs him how to reach the Chitrakuta mountain which is only three and a half yojanas (about 50 km). There lives Sri Rama in a hut, situated amidst very beautiful nature.
Just then Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi come hesitatingly to seek the sage's blessings. They circumambulate the sage, full of sorrow and diffidence in their widowhood. Each grasps his feet.
Bharadwaja asks Bharata to introduce them properly to him.
Bharata that we know speaks. He says this is Kausalya, the chief queen and fortunate mother of Sri Rama. This is Sumitra, the queen in the middle and mother of the glorious Lakshmana and Shatrughna.
And this is THE queen Kaikeyi. The wicked, self-centred, quarrelsome, queen who caused Dasharatha's death and Rama's exile. She is oversure of her own intelligence. Unfortunately, Bharata says, she is his biological mother too.
Bharadwaja reprimands Bharata.
न दोषेणावगन्तव्या कैकेयी भरत त्वया ।
रामप्रव्राजनं ह्येतत् सखोदर्कं भविष्यति ॥
देवानां दानवानां च ऋषीणां भावितात्मनाम् ।
हितमेव भविष्यद्धि रामप्रव्राजनादिह ॥
"Bharata, do not blame your mother, Kaikeyi, like this. Know that this exile of Sri Rama augurs well for the future well-being of all. Gods, demons, sages and pure souls will all be graced by Destiny with abundant welfare, consequent upon this banishment of Sri Rama."
This is the very first time Bharata is hearing this. Indeed a different spin from whatever he has heard and thought so far.
Bharata and the army begin to move towards Chitrakuta.
***
॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
