Chapter 76 - Prince Bharata commences the performance of the funeral rites

Shri Vasishtha, renowned among the sages, beholding Shri Bharata overcome by grief, addressed him in sage words, saying: “O Illustrious Prince, may happiness be thine, restrain your grief! The time has now come to perform the obsequies of the great king!”

Bharata, lying on the earth, heard the commands of the holy sage, and rising, began to perform the funeral rites.

The attendants now removed the body of the monarch from the vessel of oil and laid it on the earth. Though the body had assumed a yellow hue through being immersed in oil for many days, yet it appeared as if the king slept.

They then laid the king on a couch set with gems and Bharata, overwhelmed with grief, began to lament. He said: “O Great King, I know not why, in mine absence, you didst send Rama to the forest. Whither art you gone, leaving me bereft of Rama, that Lion among men and the Doer of famous deeds? O Great Sovereign, who with a constant mind is able to preserve his mighty kingdom? You are dead and Shri Rama is banished. O Mighty Ruler, this earth is widowed and divested of all beauty without you! Without you, the capital resembles a moonless night.”

Shri Vasishtha again addressed Shri Bharata, perceiving him still to be a prey to grief and said: “O Mighty-armed Prince this is no time for giving way to sorrow or procrastination, now perform the last rites for the king.”

Thus addressed, Shri Bharata with the aid of the brahmins and the spiritual preceptor of the monarch, inaugurated the funeral ceremonies.

In the sacrificial hall, the priests performed the fire ritual. The servitors placed the body of the king on a litter and conveyed it thence, weeping and lamenting. Scattering golden coins, and silver flowers and laying cloths before the bier, they proceeded on their way, while before the palace, sandalwood, ambergris and incense were kindled.

On the banks of the river Sarayu, a funeral pyre of devadaru, sandal and other fragrant woods, was raised. Aromatic herbs were thrown on the pyre and the body of the king laid upon it. The sacrificing priests poured oblations on the funeral pile, to the end that the monarch should attain the beatific state, and intoned the traditional mantrams, whilst the brahmins, acquainted with the Sama Veda, sang the Sama hymns.

The queens, carried in palanquins, attended by the royal and aged guards, approached the funeral pyre, weeping. Then they, overcome with grief, together with the priests circumambulated the blazing body of the king. The piteous wailing of the stricken Queens and the cries of distress of innumerable women following them, resembled the call of the krauncha birds in the mating season. Then the queens, abandoning their vehicles, approached the bank of the river Sarayu and, together with Prince Bharata, the counsellors and ministers, offered libations of water; thereafter, weeping bitterly, they returned to the capital, where for the period of ten days they slept on the bare earth.