July 2 - Sargas 69 and 70 of Ayodhya Kanda.
During the very night when the messengers from Ayodhya arrive into Rajagriha, the capital of Kekaya, Bharata has a terrible nightmare.
He is so badly shaken that his friends and attendants are unable to cheer him up next morning, however much they try. They regale him with jokes, music, and sport. But he does not respond. When his associate enquires what is bothering Bharata, he replies:
"My friend, I had a terrible dream. I saw my father pale, dishevelled, smeared with muck, falling from a mountain into cowdung. As he floated in cowdung, he was swallowing oil and laughing strangely. He was eating rice mixed with til. Finally he settled in a pool of oil.
"I saw many unnatural calamities like the moon lying on the ground and the earth splitting open.
" My father wore black clothes and sat on an iron seat as women in dark clothes laughed at him. "
***
त्वरमाणश्च धर्मात्मा रक्तमाल्यानुलेपनः ।
रथेन खरयुक्तेन प्रयातो दक्षिणामुखः ॥
प्रहसन्तीव राजानं प्रमदा रक्तवासिनी ।
प्रकर्षन्ती मया दृष्टा राक्षसी विकृतानना ॥
"Then I saw the noble king wearing a garland of red flowers, bedaubed in red sandal paste, hurrying southward in a chariot drawn by donkeys.
" I saw him being greeted by a grotesque demoness wearing blood-red clothes who dragged him away guffawing and mocking at him."
***
Bharata is sure that such a dream, not occasioned by any happening the previous day, had come to him portending some calamity for the king.
***
The Ayodhya messengers arrive and are ushered into the palace with due courtesies. They greet Bharata with great warmth and offer their respects to him as well as his grandfather and uncle.
They lose no time in conveying the precise message from sage Vasishtha :
पुरोहितस्त्वां कुशलं प्राह सर्वे च मन्त्रिणः ।
त्वरमाणश्च निर्याहि कृत्यमात्ययिकं त्वया ॥
"Dear prince Bharata, sage Vasishtha, the chief priest of the kingdom, has sent his greetings and blessings to you. The ministers also send their greetings. The sage has instructed that you should return to Ayodhya at once, and complete some pressing tasks to be done you that are overdue."
***
Valmiki describes how some 30 crore coins (वराहाः) and several other gifts of clothes and jewellery have been bought from Ayodhya by the messengers, to be given by Bharata to the Kekaya king: 20 crores to Bharata's grandfather, and the rest to his uncle. Bharata cordially offers the gifts to them.
Bharata's distinct unease from the nightmare is only accentuated by the sudden arrival of these messengers. He enquires anxiously about everyone. I quote only two shlokas:
कच्चित् स कुशली राजा पिता दशरथो मम ।
कच्चिदारोग्यता रामे लक्ष्मणे च महात्मनी ॥
"I trust all is well with the king Dasharatha, my father!? I trust the noble Sri Rama as well as Lakshmana is in good health?"
Then he asks about his mothers - first Kausalya, then Sumitra, and then Kaikeyi. See what he says about Kaikeyi!!!
आत्मकामा सदा चण्डी क्रोधेन प्राज्ञमानिनी ।
अरोगा चापि मे माता कैकेयी किमुवाच ह ॥
" And how is my mother Kaikeyi, self-centred, willful, stubborn, and quick to fight, too sure of her own astuteness? Is she well? What did she say to me?"
The messengers earn our respect when we see how they deflect their answers assuring Bharata that everyone is doing well. They add,
श्रीश्च त्वां वृणुते पद्मा युज्यतां चापि ते रथः ॥
" Dear Bharata, goddess Lakshmi with a lotus in her hand is awaiting you. Please get your chariot ready to leave at once."
***
Valmiki describes how Bharata takes leave of his dear grandfather and uncle. They arrange elaborate gifts for him, including elephants, horses, prize donkeys and so on. Valmiki mentions that the grandfather gifts him from the inner chambers special guard dogs fierce like tigers with a huge muscular build and with prominent canines.
Bharata is loath to accept all these gifts under his mood of ill-boding that refuses to leave him. But he is cordial and respectful.
Bharata and Shatrughna start their journey with a large entourage arranged by the Kekaya king and with the caravan full of gifts.
***
॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
