Bharata came near the forest where Rama lived. He stopped the army and went on ahead on foot, with Shatrughna.
“I will have no peace,” said Bharata, “until I see my brother’s face and touch his feet.”
Along the path, Bharata saw strips of bark tied to the trees. Rama and Lakshmana had tied them there, as signs to show the way.
Then he saw a little hut made of leaves, and smoke rising from a fire. “Here I will see my brother!” he said gladly.
In the hut sat Rama, on the ground, in bark cloth, with his hair in long, tangled locks. Sita and Lakshmana sat beside him.
Bharata ran toward him, weeping. He fell to the ground and could only cry out, “O noble one!”
Shatrughna fell at Rama’s feet, weeping too. Rama held both his brothers close, and his own tears fell.
Rama asked, “Why have you come here, Bharata, and left the kingdom behind?”
Bharata told him the sad news. “Our father, King Dasharatha, has died.”
Rama fainted and fell to the ground. His brothers and Sita came to him and sprinkled water on him. When he woke again, tears fell from his eyes.
“Let us give the water offering for our father,” said Bharata. At the river, Rama gave the water. “Father,” he said, “may this please you.”
Then the king’s queens came, with Vasishta, the family’s priest. They wept to see Rama in forest clothes. Rama touched their feet.
In the morning, Bharata spoke to Rama again. “The kingdom is yours,” he said. “I give it back to you.”
“I am younger than you,” said Bharata. “How can I rule while you are here? I cannot even live without you.”
The priests, the elders and the queens wept and begged Rama too. But Rama would not turn back.
Rama answered with what their father had said in front of all the people. “The throne in Ayodhya is for you, Bharata. The forest is for me, for fourteen years.”
“What our father said must be kept,” said Rama. “I cannot go against his word, and you must keep it too.” To keep his father’s word was Rama’s dharma.
“If one of us must live in the forest,” said Bharata, “then let it be me. I will stay for fourteen years.”
But Rama said no. “I cannot let you take my place in the forest. When my years in the forest are over and I return, I will rule, and you will help me.”
Some great sages had gathered there and listened. They were filled with wonder at the two brothers. “Bharata,” they said, “if you honour your father, accept Rama’s words.”
Bharata, with trembling hands, spoke to Rama once more. “I cannot rule this great kingdom alone. Everyone is waiting for you, like farmers waiting for the rain.”
Bharata fell at Rama’s feet. Rama lifted him onto his lap. “You can rule well,” he said. “Ask your ministers and friends to help you.”
“The moon may lose its light,” said Rama. “The mountains may shake off their snow. The sea may leave its shore. But I will never break my father’s promise.”
Then Bharata made one last request. “Noble brother, please stand on these wooden sandals, trimmed with gold. They will bring good and safety to all the people.” What happened next is in the next story, “The Sandals on the Throne.”
For grown-ups
Where this story comes from
This story is retold from the Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda: sarga 98 (verses 1–2, 6–8, Bharata sets out on foot), sarga 99 (the hut and the meeting), sargas 101–106 (the questions, the news of the king’s death, the water offering, the queens’ arrival, Bharata’s plea and Rama’s answer), sarga 111 (verses 26–31, Bharata’s offer to stay in the forest) and sarga 112 (verses 1–21, the sages, the last plea and the request for the sandals). Verse numbers follow valmikiramayan.net, in K. M. K. Murthy’s English. This is a faithful simplification of Valmiki. We added no event, person or reason that is not in the source, but the words are ours: the dialogue is a plain-English rendering of the translation, not a word-for-word quotation, and a few lines are paraphrased. Where the source is long or hard, we left it out rather than change it, and we say so below.
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Three things this telling leaves out, and why
- Dasharatha’s death: the cause, and Rama’s grief about it (sarga 101, verse 5; sarga 102, verse 9; sarga 103, verses 9–15).. The story says only that the king “has died”. In the source Bharata says he died of grief at being parted from Rama (101.5; 102.9), and Rama then laments that he could not perform his father’s last rites (103.9). We tell the faint, and the water offering; we leave out the cause and the lament. If your child asks how he died, the source’s answer is that he missed Rama very much (102.9); you may prefer to say only that he had died and that the family said goodbye to him with the water offering.
- Blame of Kaikeyi and of the king (sarga 101, verse 6; sarga 103, verse 46; sarga 106, verses 8–16).. Bharata calls his mother’s deed “sinful” and “mean” (106.8) and says his father transgressed righteousness out of fear or infatuation (106.14); the crowd that comes running calls out against Kaikeyi and Manthara (103.46). None of this is told. Rama’s answering words at 101.17 (“I do not see the slightest fault in you… you should not reproach your mother”) are left out too, since they answer a reproach the story does not tell. The story keeps only Rama’s plain refusal. Rama also says, later, that Kaikeyi acted “for your sake, out of her affection or ambition” and that Bharata should honour her (112.19); that is left out here.
- Why the king made these promises (sarga 107, verses 3–10).. A child may ask, “But why did the king say the forest for Rama?” Valmiki has Rama explain it (107.3–6): the king had promised Kaikeyi’s father to give the kingdom as her marriage gift (107.3), and had given Kaikeyi two boons (107.4–5). We leave that out, as in the first story: no boons, no blame. One gentle answer: “The king had made a promise, and Rama wanted his father to be a king who kept his word” (107.9–10).
- Bharata’s hard words and his threat to follow Rama into the forest (sarga 106, verses 8–16 and 32; sarga 111, verses 13–14).. Besides the blame above, Bharata says he will go back into the forest with Rama if Rama refuses (106.32), and later he has kusha grass spread and says he will lie in front of the hut without food or drink until Rama goes home (111.13–14); Rama tells him this is not right for a warrior (111.17–18). We leave out both. The refusal and the plea are told; the pressure is not.
- The water-offering details, Kausalya at the ford, and the rushing crowd (sarga 103, verses 20–21, 28–30 and 34–48; sarga 104, verses 4–15).. We tell one plain line: the water offering. Valmiki adds the food-balls made of forest fruit pulp, Kausalya’s lament at seeing them (104.8–15), the brothers’ cries echoing on the hill, the army running to the sound and the frightened animals (103.33–44). These are sad rather than frightening, but they are long and add nothing to the arc.
- Rama’s long teaching on death (sarga 105, verses 15–39).. Rama tells Bharata at length that every life ends, that their father lived a full life and is in heaven, and that they should not grieve (105.15–39). It is a famous passage, but it is a lecture for adults; we keep only Rama’s conclusion (105.40–44).
- Rama’s questions about kingship (sarga 100), Jabali (sargas 108–109) and Vasishta’s teaching and family history (sargas 110–111, verses 1–11).. Rama’s questions on how a king should rule (sarga 100), the priest Jabali’s argument that Rama should not feel bound by his father’s word and Rama’s answer on truthfulness (108–109), Vasishta’s account of the family line and his advice that Rama listen to Bharata (110; 111.1–11) are all skipped.
- The sages’ wish to see Ravana fall (sarga 112, verse 4).. Valmiki says the sages wished to see a quick end to Ravana, which is why they urged Bharata to accept Rama’s words (112.4–6). We tell only that they spoke and what they said (112.5).
- How Rama looks, and the weapons in the hut (sarga 99, verses 18–24, 31–36).. Valmiki describes the bows, swords and arrows hung in the hut, and Bharata’s cry that Rama, who once wore sandal paste and flowers, now wears dust and matted hair (99.31–36). We keep the hut, the bark cloth and the hair, and drop the weapons and the lament.
Compressed: the camp (98.1–2) and the walk ahead (99.1) are one page, and Bharata’s orders and speech (98.3–13) are cut to 98.6–8 (p2); the signs on the path (99.6, 99.10) and the smoke and hut (99.4, 99.12–13) are two. Bharata’s first long plea (101.8–14) and his later pleas (102.3; 105.4–12; 106.17–31) become three short quotations (105.4; 106.23–24; 112.11–12); his words in 106.23–24 are shortened but keep the sense. Valmiki gives Rama’s answer in several places (101.23–26, 105.40–45, 107.7–10, 111.29–31, 112.16–19); we gather them in the order the story needs. In the source, Bharata first says the king has died at 101.5 and Rama answers at 101.17–26 before the news is given again at 102.5 and Rama faints at 103.1; the page order follows the sense, not the verse numbers. Where the source says Rama “consoled” Bharata, we show the embrace (99.40) only. The faint is one sentence (103.1–6). The sages’ words are cut to 112.5. “Dharma” is a gloss: Rama speaks of obeying his father’s command and of what a pious man does (105.42–44), and we name that his dharma. The line “They will bring good and safety to all the people” renders 112.21 (“gain and security”). Valmiki does not say in 112.21 whose sandals they are, so we say only “these wooden sandals, trimmed with gold”. Rama’s 111.31, “after returning from the forest, I shall rule the earth, assisted by my virtuous brother”, is rendered as “When my years in the forest are over and I return, I will rule, and you will help me.”
The question children ask here
“Why did Rama say no, when everyone begged him to come home?” Valmiki gives Rama’s own reasons:
- their father had divided the shares in front of the people: the throne for Bharata, the forest for Rama, for fourteen years (sarga 101, verses 23–26);
- a son must not go against his father’s word, and Bharata must honour it too (sarga 105, verses 42–44), so Rama would not let Bharata take his place in the forest (sarga 111, verse 29);
- and he would sooner see the moon lose its light than break his father’s promise (sarga 112, verse 18).
“Rama had given his word to his father, and he kept it even though it was hard for everyone.”
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