Chapter 72 - Queen Kaikeyi begins to relate what has occurred

Not seeing his father in the palace, Bharata, desirous of beholding his mother, went to her apartment. Kaikeyi, seeing her son after a long absence, with a joyous heart, rose from her golden couch. Observing the apartment of his mother, divested of splendour, Bharata reverently touched her feet. She, having kissed the head of her son, embracing him again, seated him on her lap, and said: “O Child! How many days have passed since you didst leave your grandfather’s abode? Having journeyed in haste, I trust you are not fatigued? O Child, are your grandfather and uncle well? Tell me, O Dear One, hast you been in health since you have visited that other country?”

Shri Bharata thus questioned, by his mother, related all that had happened. He said: “O Mother, seven days and seven nights have passed, since I left my grandfather’s home. Both he and my unde are well. The parting gifts of wealth and gems which the King of Kaikeya gave me, I have left on the way, to follow me, the beasts of burden being weary! The messengers who conveyed the orders of the king, bade me return with all speed. Now, O Mother, answer what I would feign ask? Why is this, your golden couch, vacated by the king? Why do the king’s subjects appear wretched? The king was wont to dwell principally in your palace, where is he to-day? I have come hither to enter his august presence! Where is my father now, I have come to offer salutations to his feet? Is he in the apartment of my chief mother, Queen Kaushalya?” Kaikeyi, knowing all that had taken place but filled with ambition, answered Prince Bharata, as yet ignorant of the matter. Imparting the unpleasant news in honeyed accents, she said: “That fate, which inevitably overtakes all beings, has befallen that great soul, that renowned and mighty monarch the support of his people, your sire!”

The guileless Prince Bharata, born of a great family, hearing these words, overwhelmed by grief, instantly fell to the ground and falling striking his hands on the earth, cried: “Alas! I am undone!” That resplendent prince, deeply moved on learning of the death of his father, began to lament, crying: “On this couch, my father appeared like the moon in autumn, to-day on account of his absence, this pleasant bed resembles the sky bereft of stars or the ocean without water!”

Heaving deep sighs, weeping bitterly and covering his face with a cloth, the prince continued to mourn.

Queen Kaikeyi, seeing Bharata lying on the ground, overwhelmed with sorrow, like the branch of a shala tree, severed by the blows of an axe, raised him up and said to her godlike son who resembled the moon, the sun or the elephant in splendour: “O Son of a King 1 O Most Illustrious One! Rise! Rise! Pious men like you, do not thus yield to grief! O Wise One! As the radiance of the sun’is fixed in that orb, so must you who art devoted to charity, sacrifice and good conduct and who follow the injunctions of the Vedas, be calm!”

Prince Bharata, rolling on the earth, wept for a long time and then answered his mother sorrowfully, saying: “O Mother, thinking the king was undertaking a great sacrifice, having bestowed the throne on Shri Rama, I started for home with great joy, but now I see matters are otherwise and my mind is torn with anguish, since I no longer behold my ever magnanimous parent! O Mother, from what malady did the king suffer, that he was carried away in my absence? How fortunate are my brothers, Shri Rama and Lakshmana, who have performed the monarch’s obsequies! If the great sovereign' had been aware of my return, would he not have bent his head and embraced me? Alas! Where is that royal hand, the touch of which filled me with delight and which cleansed my body from the dust? O Mother, where is my sagacious brother Rama, whose servant I am and who resembles my father? Tell me quickly where he may be found? Since my virtuous and enlightened brother has now become as a father to me, I desire to take refuge at his feet, he alone is my sole support! O Mother, what commands concerning me did the righteous and learned king, the ever-truthful monarch of firm vows, give? I desire to hear the last words of the great sovereign?”

Thus questioned, Queen Kaikeyi openly answered, saying: “The king, at the time of death, did not speak your name but cried ‘O Rama, O Sita, O Lakshmana’ and thus gave up his life! Your father, bound by the ties of fate and duty, like a mighty elephant, caught in ambush, uttered these words at the end: ‘Those who see Rama, Sita and Lakshmana, returning from the forest, will attain their desire’.”

As Kaikeyi revealed this unpleasant intelligence, the prince grew yet more distracted and enquired of his mother: “O Mother, where is the virtuous Rama, where is he now with Sita and his brother Lakshmana?”

Thus questioned, the queen began to relate what had occurred, supposing the news of the unpleasing event would be welcome to her son.

She said: “O Child, that prince, clothed in robes of bark, has entered the great Dandaka forest with Sita and Lakshmana.”

Hearing from his mother that Rama had entered the forest, Prince Bharata was alarmed, filled with misgivings and concerned for the honour of his House. He said: “O Mother, how is this? Has Shri Rama, without reason, slain any, either rich or poor? Or has he looked on the wife of another with desire? For what reason has Rama, versed in the scriptures, been exiled to the forest?”

Then the mother of Bharata, imbued with feminine qualities, capricious and calculating, began to relate the whole matter. Hearing her son’s words, Kaikeyi, gratified, vainly imagining herself wise, said: “My Son, neither has Rama robbed a brahmin of his wealth, nor has he slain any, rich or poor, without reason, neither has Rama looked on another’s wife with desire! My Son, having heard that he was to be proclaimed regent, I requested your father to banish Rama and bestow the kingdom on you! Your sire, in order to honour the promise made to me, fulfilled my request. He sent Rama, together with Sita and Lakshmana to the forest. Then that mighty monarch, unable to endure the separation from his son, died. O Righteous Prince, now do you rule the kingdom! For your sake, I have contrived all this! My Son, do not grieve, do not afflict thyself, the kingdom and the capital, being now without a ruler, depend on you for support. Therefore, seeking advice from Shri Vasishtha and the learned brahmins, perform the funeral rites of your great sire and, without hesitation, accept the throne!”