Chapter 38 - Shri Rama requests the king to protect his mother during his absence

Seeing Sita, like a widow though possessing a husband, putting on the habit of bark, all the people present condemned King Dasaratha. The king hearing their murmuring lost all interest in life, virtue and fame, formerly cherished by him. Sighing deeply, he said to his consort Kaikeyi:—

“O Kaikeyi, it is unfitting for Sita to enter the forest wearing the habit of an ascetic. Our holy Guru Vasishtha has spoken truly. Sita is not fitted for life in the forest, that frail princess is worthy of perpetual happiness. Has the daughter of the great Emperor Janaka caused injury to any, that amidst the people she stands mute, dressed in a robe of bark, like an ascetic? I gave no promise that the daughter of King Janaka should put on the dress of a devotee. Let this princess enter the forest attired in an auspicious manner, with all her ornaments. My death is not far distant and my mind is in confusion; by promising these boons to you, I have been brought to nought. This act is consuming me as is the bamboo by its flowering. If it be said that Shri Rama has done you injury, O Sinful One, what harm did Janaki ever do to you? Of what dost you accuse the daughter of King Janaka, whose eyes resemble the gazelle’s and who is meek and gentle.

“O Wicked One, by sending Rama without reason to the forest, you shalt assuredly enter hell; what else will not befall you on account of your evil deeds?

“When Shri Rama approached me on the eve of his installation, then didst you forbid him to inaugurate the ceremony and charged him to enter the forest with matted locks in an ascetic’s garb. By my silence, I gave consent, but now, desirous of plunging thyself into hell you requirest Sita to enter the forest robed in the habit of a recluse.”

King Dasaratha, lamenting, saw no end to his distress. At length, helpless and overcome with grief, on account of his son, he fell to the ground.

Shri Rama, his head bowed, ready to enter the forest, observing his father’s distress, said: “O King, my mother Kaushalya, devoted to her lord, aged and of a generous disposition, who never speaks ill of any, bereft of me will be drowned in a sea of sorrow. She who has hitherto known no suffering is now worthy of your special regard. O Father, you to whom honour is due, regard my mother with affectionate attention, that she may not suffer in the separation from her son and the bearing of many woes, but live dependent on you. O Emperor, equal to Indra in power, protect my mother in my absence that she may not languish and die.”