Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana flew home to Ayodhya in the Pushpaka, after fourteen years in the forest. Another brother, Bharata, had waited for them all that time. He ruled the kingdom for Rama, with Rama’s wooden sandals before him.
From high in the sky, Rama showed Sita the city of Lanka on its mountain. Then they flew over the great bridge across the sea.
Soon they saw Kishkindha below, the beautiful city of Sugriva, king of the vanaras. “Please,” said Sita, “may the wives of the vanara chiefs come with us to Ayodhya?” “Let it be,” said Rama.
Rama stopped the Pushpaka and spoke to Sugriva. “Bring the vanara chiefs, with their wives, to Ayodhya,” he said. The wives went round the car and climbed in.
The Pushpaka rose again, with the vanara wives aboard. “Look, there is Mount Rishyamuka,” said Rama. “That is where I met Sugriva.”
Soon they saw the great river Ganga, and then the river Sarayu. Rama pointed ahead. “That is my father’s city,” he said. “Bow to Ayodhya, Sita.”
Everyone saw Ayodhya with its rows of white palaces. Then the Pushpaka came to the hermitage of the sage Bharadvaja, and Rama bowed to him.
“Is Ayodhya well?” Rama asked the sage. “Is Bharata well? Are my mothers, the queens, well?” “All are safe,” said Bharadvaja. “Bharata is waiting for you, with your wooden sandals before him.”
Rama asked the sage for one gift. “Let the trees on our way bear fruit and flow with honey.” “Be it so,” said the sage. The trees filled with fruit, and the vanara chiefs ate and ate.
Rama looked toward Ayodhya. He wished to do something kind, and he thought it over. Then he turned to the vanaras with him and called Hanuman, a vanara and the wind god’s son.
Rama sent Hanuman to Bharata with glad news. “Go to Bharata,” he said. “Tell him I am coming home with Sita and Lakshmana.” Then Rama said, “If Bharata longs for the kingdom, let him rule all of it.”
Hanuman took a human shape and flew off. On the way he gave Rama’s greeting to Guha, Rama’s friend and king of the Nishadas, a forest people.
Hanuman came to Nandigrama, a place just outside Ayodhya, where Bharata waited. There he saw Bharata in bark clothes, with matted hair and a body smeared with dirt. Rama’s wooden sandals were before him.
Hanuman joined his hands. “Rama is coming,” he said. “Soon you will meet your elder brother.” Bharata was so full of joy that he fell to the ground.
Soon Bharata woke. He hugged Hanuman, and his tears fell. They were tears of joy.
“How did all this happen?” asked Bharata. Hanuman sat and told him the whole story. “Rama will come tomorrow,” said Hanuman. “My wish has come true after a long time,” said Bharata.
Bharata called his brother Shatrughna. “Honour the shrines with flowers and music,” he said. Shatrughna sent workers. They smoothed the roads, sprinkled them, and hung flags and flowers.
The whole city of Ayodhya came out to Nandigrama, and Rama’s mothers came too. Bharata went ahead. He carried Rama’s wooden sandals on his head.
Bharata looked all around, but he could not see Rama. Hanuman said, “Listen to the vanaras cheering by the fruit trees. See the cloud of dust. And there is the shining Pushpaka!”
Then everyone shouted, “Here comes Rama!” The Pushpaka came down to the ground, with Sugriva aboard. Bharata joined his hands and welcomed Rama.
Rama took Bharata, whom he had not seen for so long, on his lap and hugged him. Then Bharata bowed to Lakshmana and Sita.
Bharata hugged Sugriva. “You are a fifth brother to the four of us,” he said. He hugged the other vanara friends too. Rama bowed at his mother’s feet, and to all his mothers.
Then Bharata took Rama’s wooden sandals and set them down at Rama’s feet. “This whole kingdom was yours,” he said. “I kept it for you. Now I give it back.”
Bharata asked Rama to be king. “This kingdom is too heavy for me. Let the world see you crowned.” Rama said, “Be it so,” and sat down. The long wait was over.
For grown-ups
Where this story comes from
This is the homecoming episode of the Yuddha Kanda, the sixth book of the Valmiki Ramayana: sargas 123 to 128, ending at verse 128.12. Our Ramayana guide tells the same episode for adults as “The Return to Ayodhya”. Verse numbers follow valmikiramayan.net, in K. M. K. Murthy’s English. It is a faithful simplification. We shortened and skipped scenes, and we name them below. We did not add events, and we did not change anyone’s reasons. Lamps and Diwali are not in the story, because they are not in these verses.
Read the full episode
Three things this telling leaves out, and why
- The battlefield and the dead (sarga 123, verses 4–14). From the air Rama points out the battlefield, “covered with a mud of flesh and blood”, and names those killed there, and Mandodari’s lament. This is battle and death, so it is left out. The story shows only Lanka on its mountain and the bridge (123.3, 123.16).
- The places of the forest years (sarga 123, verses 40–51). Rama also points out the river Pampa, Shabari, Kabandha, the tree where Jatayu fell, Panchavati and the hut from which Sita was taken, Khara, Viradha and the hermitages. These tell of the abduction and of killings, so they are left out. Chitrakuta is left out too, because it belongs to the earlier Bharata stories.
- The sage’s account and Hanuman’s long telling (sargas 124.5–16 and 126.5–53). Bharadvaja recalls Rama’s exile and the war (124.5–16), and Hanuman tells Bharata the whole of it (126.5–53), including the abduction and the fighting. The story says only that Hanuman “told him the whole story” (126.4). Left out for the same reason: it is war and loss.
- Why Rama went to the forest. The verses of these sargas touch the cause of the exile (124.5–7; 126.5–9). The story does not tell it. Page 1 says only that the forest years were fourteen. Kaikeyi’s boons and Dasharatha’s death are told in the stories about Bharata, not here. Kaikeyi is not named on a page; she is one of the mothers Rama bows to (127.49).
- Sita’s fire-ordeal. This comes before sarga 123, in an earlier episode of our Ramayana guide, and so it is not in this passage. The story does not tell it.
- The rest of Rama’s message and what he wanted Hanuman to watch (sarga 125, verses 8–16 and 18). Rama lists the war, the boons of the gods and his meeting with his father (125.8–11), asks Hanuman to read Bharata’s face and gestures (125.14–15), and says to come back quickly (125.18). We keep only the news that Rama is coming home and his wish that Bharata rule if he longs for it (125.7, 125.17). The source does not say how these requests were answered, so the story does not.
- Bharata’s gift to Hanuman (sarga 125, verses 43–45). After the good news Bharata offers a hundred thousand cows, a hundred villages and sixteen wives. The source does not say Hanuman answers. It is left out.
- Bharata’s doubt about Hanuman (sarga 127, verse 23). When Bharata cannot see Rama he asks Hanuman whether “the fickle-mindedness” of monkeys has misled him. A child would hear an insult to a loyal friend, so the line is left out. Hanuman’s answer is kept (127.25–31).
- What comes after Bharata’s request (sarga 128, verse 13 onward). Rama is bathed and dressed, Sita is dressed by the queens, the procession enters Ayodhya, Rama is crowned, gifts are given (including the necklace Sita gives to Hanuman) and his reign is described. That is a second story, so this book ends at 128.12. The send-off of the Pushpaka to Kubera (127.59–61) is not told either.
The flight home is Rama’s long tour of places in sarga 123. We keep Lanka and the bridge, Kishkindha, Rishyamuka, the two rivers and the sight of Ayodhya. In sarga 123 Sita asks and Rama agrees; Sugriva passes the order to Tara and Tara gathers the wives (123.26–36). The page says that Rama asked Sugriva to bring the vanara chiefs with their wives (123.27–28), and it does not name Tara; the verses do not say how the chiefs travelled, so the page shows only the wives climbing in (123.36). Sugriva is named aboard at the landing (127.31). Bharata sits with the wooden sandals before him as he rules (125.32), and later says he kept the kingdom as a deposit for Rama (127.53); the page joins the two as “ruled the kingdom for Rama”. Rama’s questions to the sage are told as “Are my mothers well?”; the verse asks whether they are “still alive” (124.2). Hanuman’s journey and his greeting to Guha are one page (125.19–24), and Guha’s reply is not in the source. Hanuman’s search for Sita (125.9) is not mentioned; he is introduced as a vanara and the wind god’s son (125.19). Nandigrama is told as a place just outside Ayodhya, two miles away (125.29). Bharata saying his own name (127.40) is left out. In sarga 125.1 Rama wishes “to do a kindly act”; the verse does not say for whom, so the page does not say either. The page puts the errand to Bharata next, in the order of the verses, and calls it glad news; it does not say the errand was the kindness. Hanuman’s telling of everything to Bharata is one sentence (126.4). Shatrughna’s orders are shortened to roads, flowers and flags (127.5–9). The crowd that goes to Nandigrama is told as the whole city and Rama’s mothers (127.15–22). The embraces of Bharata with Rama’s friends are one sentence (127.41–42). Where the translation says “deposit” (127.53) the page says “I kept it for you”; where it says Bharata cannot bear the “heavy burden” like a young ox, the page says “too heavy” (128.3). The words are a plain-English rendering of the translation, not word-for-word quotation. The translation (K. M. K. Murthy) calls the vanaras “monkeys”; we use “vanaras”, as our guide does. The verses are not clear whether Rama sits or stands in the car when it lands (127.33, 127.36), so the story does not say. The tomorrow in Hanuman’s words is from 126.54; at 125.24 Hanuman tells Guha that Rama can be seen “today”, and the story keeps only the first. Where one block of the translation carries several verses, we cite them as a range.
The question children ask here
“Is this why we light lamps at Diwali?” Valmiki’s verses and later tradition say different things, so we keep them apart:
- What Valmiki tells: Rama comes home, Bharata gives back the kingdom, and Shatrughna has the roads sprinkled and hung with flags and flowers (127.5–9). Later, in verses this book does not reach, the city welcomes Rama with conches, drums, songs and flags on every house (128.33–42).
- What Valmiki does not tell: a city lit with lamps for Rama’s return. The word “Diwali” is not in sargas 123–128. Oil lamps do appear once, when Shatrughna’s men bring oil lamps, beds and mats into the house Rama gave Sugriva (128.47). They belong to that house, not to a festival.
- What later tradition says: many families keep the story of Rama’s coming home at Diwali, with lamps. That is a later way of keeping the story, and it is not in Valmiki’s verses. This book does not give a date for Diwali, and the verses give the day of Rama’s arrival at the hermitage only as a fifth lunar day (124.1).
“Many people light lamps at Diwali to remember the joy of Rama coming home. That is a later way of keeping the story, not Valmiki’s words.”
A Sanatani Production
