In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of an important accord which Sage Maarkandeya is making to Yudishtra, as part of the “Rama-Upaakhyaana Parva”. In this, Sage Maarkandeya explains how Bhagawan Rama and Mother Sita had to undergo tremendous amounts of ordeals while residing in the forest for fourteen years. As part of this accord, we’ve witnessed how Bhagawan Rama and Mother Sita, along with Lakshmana had to ascend to the forest in exile for fourteen years and what are the circumstances that led to Bhagawan Rama’s exile. Now as Bhagawan Rama decides to exit Ayodhya, the entire city starts to weep, except Kaikeyi. King Dasharata could not bear his son’s separation from him and is now at the last stage of his life. He is too weak even to get up and talk to anyone. Bhagawan Rama bids farewell to His father and all the three mothers before making His way out. Bharata and Shathrughna aren’t at Ayodhya at that moment as they had gone to the Kekeya Desha to meet Kaikeyi’s parents. Because of this, both of them are clueless as to what’s happening in Ayodhya.
Thus, even as scores of people of Ayodhya try to stop Bhagawan Rama, He is steadfast in His actions. For Bhagawan Rama, nothing is better in this world than executing His father’s request and obeying his words. Even though King Dasharata reluctantly asks Bhagawan Rama to leave for the forest, Bhagawan Rama never asks a question back to him! He just throws away the kingdom and moves out! As Bhagawan Rama’s chariot reaches the banks of River Sarayu, the charioteer leaves all the three there. Subsequently, Bhagawan Rama takes a raft and the three of them leave Ayodhya forever at this moment. On the other bank of the river, Bhagawan Rama meets Guha and makes friendship with him. Guha is an ordinary hunter and Bhagawan Rama interacts with him and stays in his hamlet for one night, along with Mother Sita and Lakshmana. Subsequently, the next morning, Bhagawan Rama requests Guha to guide them to a deeper portion in the forest wherein they can reside peacefully for the next fourteen years. This is where, all of them come to a place called “Chitrakoota” – A beautiful forest area with a lot of rivers and streams running across and with a lot of wildlife habitat too. Bhagawan Rama and Lakshmana construct a small hamlet for the three of them and they happily reside there for a few days.
Meanwhile in Ayodhya, as King Dasharata came to know that his son Rama is not going to come back and has ditched him completely, he could not bare this anymore. He has had enough. With a loud sound of desperation and separation, King Dasharata breathes his last! Soon after this, a message is urgently sent to Bharata and Shathrughna to return back to Ayodhya immediately. As Bharata returns back, he enters the palace with a lot of tension. According to him, there should have been a lot of grandeur as his brother Rama should have become the king by now. However, he saw the entire city wearing a dead look! Nobody had a smile on their face, instead, people were only insulting and abusing Bharata for abducting the Ayodhya kingdom from Bhagawan Rama, to whom it should have rightly belonged. Bharata did not understand anything of these and as he enters the palace, the first sight that he has is his mother standing in a white saree like a widow! Upon seeing this, Bharata is shell-shocked!
Upon questioning his mother, she storms the news that King Dasharata is no more! Upon hearing this shocking news, Bharata falls on the floor weeping heavily! He is unconsolable! However, what comes next from Kaikeyi’s mouth is a rude-shocker! She lifts him up and with a smile says thus, “Oh Bharata! From now onwards, you are the king of Ayodhya! I’ve ensured that I’ve obtained your father’s approval of this plan before he passed away!”
As Bharata listens to this, he immediately gets up and asks, “Where is my brother Rama? Why am I not able to see him anywhere here? Where is Lakshmana? Where has he gone?” For this, Kaikeyi calmly and casually replies thus, “Oh Bharata! Your brother Rama is in exile for the next fourteen years! I’ve already sent him to the forest along with Sita! Lakshmana too wanted to join him and I was fine with it! Hence, Rama, Lakshmana and Sita are in the forest now and no more in Ayodhya!” As Kaikeyi proudly proclaims thus, Bharata now understands what had happened! King Dasharata did not have a normal death by any means. It was Kaikeyi who had allegedly killed his father! Now Bharata starts abusing his mother very badly thus, “Oh Kaikeyi! Till now I’ve seen you as my mother! But from now onwards, you are a mere Raakshasi who had been a prime reason for my father’s death! What are you blabbering? How can I even be a king if Bhagawan Rama is alive and if He is my Lord? How can a servant be a king in this world? There is no way that I can rule Ayodhya. I’m immediately leaving for the forest now to bring back Bhagawan Rama! Enough of your dirty games now! There can be nobody in this world who can rule Ayodhya, except my brother Rama!”
Saying thus, Bharata immediately prepares himself to leave for the forest in search of Bhagawan Rama. So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode we shall continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 