Ramayana of valmiki and kamban-Ayodhya kanda-21. Bharatha sets out to forest

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21. Bharatha sets out to forest

 

After the funeral rites were over Vasishta asked Bharatha to assume his role of king of Ayodhya to which he replied that he would not do so and he wanted to go to forest and bring rama back and told the minsters and the whole retinue and army to get ready to go to forest to bring Rama in style.

 

The whole army and the ministers, courtiers along with the three queens accompanied Bharatha to forest and they reached the realm of Guha near the bank of Ganga and Bharatha wanted the army and the animals to take rest for the night so that they could cross the river the next day.

 

Guha on seeing the great army and also the flag of the the king of Ayodhya knew that Bharatha had come there and he suspected that Bharatha had come to kill Rama so that he could rule the kingdom without fear.Guha instructed all his men to stand ready to destroy the army and Bharatha if he had come with an evil intention. He said Bharatha and his army would cross the river only if they had come with goodwill towards Rama.

 

So saying Guha as per the protocol to receive a king went to Bharatha with presents. Seeng him Sumanthra informed Bharatha of his identity and said that he could show them the way to the place where Rama was. Bharatha welcomed him and asked him to tell us the way to the hermitage of Bharadhvaja and also to provide them means of crossing the river. Guha said that he would be glad to help them and expressed a doubt whether Bharatha meant to do any harm to Rama upon which poor Bharatha was pained and exclaimed that what worse could happen to him than the friends of Rama suspecting him and told Guha his real intention. Guha rejoiced at his reply and prased him that no one caould equal him in sacrifice and love for Rama.

 

This scene is portrayed beautifully in Kamban.

 

Bharatha in Kambaramayana goes to forest attired as a hermit in bark garments and Guha, seeing the huge army, let out an angry outburst and vowed to kill all of them suspecting that Bharatha had brought the big army only to attack Rama. So saying he went and stood before Bharatha with his bow and arrow and Sumanthra told Bharatha about Guha and Bharatha went to receive him. By the mere appearance of Bharatha reassured Guha that he was pure. Thus the Guha and Bharatha of Kamban are both glorified by the poetry of Kamban, who says, describing Bharatha'a appearance and the reaction of Guha on seeing him.

 

vaRkalaiyin udaiaanai maaSu adaindha meyyaanai

naR kalai il madhi enna nagai izhandha mugatthaanai

kal kaniyakkaniginRa thuyaraanai kaNNutraan

vil kaiyininRu idai veezha vimmuttRu ninRu ozhindhaan

 

Guha sees Bharatha wearing bark garment, with his body dust covered, his face had lost its smile like the moon who had lost his luster, his sorrow visible to all was enough to melt even a stone. The bow of Guha slipped from his hand to his side and he stood weeping.

 

Then Guha thought,

nambiyum en naayaganai okkinRaan; ayal ninraan

nambiyaiyum okkinRaan; thavavedam thalai ninRaan

thunbam oru mudivu illai dhisai nokki thozhuginRaan

emperumaan pin piRandhaar izhaipparO pizhaiipu enRaan

 

" Bharatha resembles my Lord and the other one(sathrughna) resembles Lakshmana. He has put on a hermit's garb and looks grieved beyond measure and offers obeisance with folded hands to the direction where Rama is. Will the younger brother of my Lord Rama do anything wrong?"

 

Then Bharatha and Guha bowed down to one another and Guha asked Bhartha the reason why he had come to forest and Bharatah told him that his father swerved from the tradition of his forefathers and he had come to rectify it and take Rama back.

 

Then Guha said the oft quoted words.

thaai urai kondu thaadhai udhaviya dharaNi thannai

theevinai enns neetthu chinthanai mugatthil thEkki

pOyinai enRa pozhdhu pugazhinOi thanmai kandaal

ayiram raamar nin kEzh aavaro theriyinammaa

 

" You have abandoned the kingdom handed over to you as it were by your father on the words of your mother as though it is evil. You have gone away with worry and anxiety displayed on your face. Your glory is indeed so great that even thousand Ramas will not be your equal."

 

Wjat Guha meant was that Rama abandoned the kingdonm because he was asked to do so which shows the character of Rama to be like a sage without desires. Moreover he obeyed his father and acted according to dharma. But no one would have blamed Bharatha on the other hand, in accepting the kingdom seeing that he was innocent of the intrigue of Kaikeyi and was waiting for Rama to come back and then hand it over to him. But he abandoned it as though it was evil and not only that but he had put on a hermit's robes and was prepared to live in the forest instead of Rama, determined to make Rama accept the kingdome. Thus he had risen even above Rama in glory. This denoted no intention on the part of Guha to undermine Rama but it is to show how much more difficult it was to resist the temptation of something offered ready on a plate than to give up something which was denied.

 

When the night came the army and others took rest, Bharatha was torn with anguish. Valmiki describes his mental state in a picturesque manner and this is one of the instances when the poet Valmiki has the upperhand to the narrator Valmiki.

 

Valmiki likens the grief of Bharatha to the mount Himalayas, perspiration due to grief flowing from his pores as the snow melted by the firerce heat of the sun and he was oppressed by the weight of the mountain of grief whose caves were the thoughts of Rama, whose minerals were the groans and sighs coming out of him, the meloncholy thoughts of his own fate were the dense forest of trees on the mountain. His sorrow and fatigue were the peaks of the mount. He used to swoon often due to thr anguish which was unbearable and they are portrayed as the wild beasts roaming on the forests of the mountain.

 

Then Guha approached him and told him about Rama and Seetha lying on the floor at the very spot where they were and about Lakshmana"s grief on seeing them like that and who said that he could not sleep seeing Rama who is unconquerable even by devas and asuras lying on the ground with the princess of Mithila.Then Guha said Lakshmana was afraid that his father would not survive the separation and also Kousalya.

 

Bharatha lamented tha fact that because of him Rama and Seetha had to lie on the ground and he pointed out to his men the marks of the two sleeping on the bed made of darbha grass, where the traces of Rama turning his side due to sleeplessness and the garment of Seetha got stuck in the grass where some threads could be seen. Then he said that he would matt his hair and sleep on the ground and eat only roots like a hermit and he would live in the forest and make Rama go to Ayodhya and accept the kingdom.

 

Then the next day they crossed the river and reached the hermitage of Bharadhvaja.