Chapter 66 - The inhabitants of Ayodhya mourn for their lord

Kaushalya placed the head of the dead king, resembling an extinguished fire or a waterless ocean or the sun without lustre, on her lap and oppressed with grief, thus addressed Kaikeyi: “O Kaikeyi, your ambition is fulfilled, now rule without further opposition. Having abandoned the king, enjoy the kingdom with your son, O You of Evil Conduct! Rama having departed and the king also, I resemble a traveller on a dangerous and difficult path bereft of his companions. There is no further joy in life for me! Alas! what woman bereft of her lord, her deity, desires to continue to live? Kaikeyi alone is such a one, having abandoned all virtue. The greedy disregard the consequences of their acts, like a hungry man devouring poisonous food without considering its effects. Alas I Kaikeyi has destroyed the dynasty of Raghu at the instigation of a hunchbacked woman! How bitterly will King Janaka mourn, on hearing that King Dasaratha, urged by Kaikeyi, has exiled Rama together with his consort. The lotus-eyed Rama, not knowing the king is dead, is unaware that I, to-day, am masterless and a widow! The daughter of King Janaka, the wretched Sita, unworthy of affliction will suffer intensely in the forest. Hearing the fearful roar of lions and tigers, in the dark night, she will cling in terror to Rama. The aged Janaka, whose only child is Sita, will assuredly die of grief, when acquainted with the sufferings inflicted on his daughter! I, to-day, in devotion to my lord, will enter the blazing fire embracing his body.”

Hearing these words, the chief minister, versed in the tradition, drew Queen Kaushalya away from the body of the king, and placing it in a vessel filled with oil, to preserve it, performed the requisite ceremonies. The counsellors acquainted with the time-honoured duties, were unwilling to cremate the body of the king in the absence of the prince. As the body was lowered into the oil-filled vessel, the women of the palace wept bitterly, exclaiming: “Alas, the king is dead.” Lifting up their arms, shedding tears and wailing pitiably, they cried: “O King, having separated us from the sweet-speaking Rama, why hast you, too, abandoned us? How shall we live with the evil-minded Kaikeyi, who has exiled Rama and slain her lord? Alas! Shri Rama, the chief support of our life, has gone to the forest, relinquishing his royal portion. How can we live under the reproaches and tyranny of Kaikeyi in the absence of Rama and of you? Will not she who exiled Rama, the mighty Lakshmana and Sita and abandoned the king, abandon us also?”

Then the chief queens, the consorts of King Dasaratha, overwhelmed with sorrow, shedding tears, felt themselves bereft of all happiness. Like the night without a moon or a lovely and youthful woman bereft of her lord, the city of Ayodhya appeared stricken. Filled with men and women weeping and lamenting, the city was unswept, its ways unadorned! The great sovereign, having through grief at the separation from his son, given up his life, the queens wept lying on the ground, till the sun sank below the horizon and die dark night crept on.

The friends and relatives of the monarch taking counsel together, being unwilling to cremate the body of the king, in the absence of his son, laid it, therefore, in a vessel of oil.

The king being dead, the inhabitants of the city filled the streets and courts, mourning for their lord, causing Ayodhya to resemble the night bereft of stars. Men and women gathered together, inveighing against the mother of Bharata, Queer Kaikeyi. All were distraught and bereft of joy!