Prince Bharata was staying at his grandfather’s house in Kekaya, a faraway kingdom. His brother Shatrughna was with him. Their father was Dasharatha, the king.
Messengers came with a call: “Come quickly. There is urgent work for you.” Bharata set out at once, with Shatrughna, in his chariot. He rode hard and fast.
At last Bharata reached Ayodhya, the great city where his family ruled. He hurried to his father’s palace to greet him. But the king was not there.
So Bharata went to his mother, Kaikeyi. She was glad to see him. She hugged him and asked how his visit had been.
Bharata saw the golden couch, empty. “Where is Father?” he asked. He had thought the king was about to honour Rama, his dear eldest brother, as the future king.
Kaikeyi told him the sad news. “Your father has died.” Bharata fell to the ground and cried out, “I am undone!”
Then Bharata asked, “Where is Rama?” “Rama has gone to the forest,” said Kaikeyi. “Lakshmana and Sita went with him. Rama wears bark cloth.”
“Rama did nothing wrong,” said Kaikeyi. “I asked the king to make you king, and he agreed. So Rama went to the forest. It was all done for you.”
Bharata was not glad. “Without Father, and without Rama, what is a kingdom to me?” he said. “You do not know how much I love Rama.”
Bharata was so hurt that he could not speak to his mother as he had before.
“In our family, the eldest son is crowned king,” said Bharata. “That is our dharma.” “I will bring Rama back,” he said, “and I will serve him.”
In front of all the ministers, Bharata said, “I never wanted to be king. I did not know about any of this. I was far away.”
Rama’s mother, Queen Kausalya, was weeping too. Bharata fell at her feet. “You know how much I love Rama,” he said. She held him close, and they wept together.
Vasishta, the family’s priest, said, “You have mourned long enough. Now do what a son must do for his father.” Bharata did, and for ten days the whole house mourned.
Bharata and Shatrughna wept again. Kind Vasishta lifted Bharata up. He told him that joy and sorrow come to every living being.
On the fourteenth day after his father died, the kingmakers came to Bharata. They had brought everything for a crowning. “From now on, you be our king,” they said.
Bharata walked slowly around all that was ready for the crowning. “It is right that the crown goes to the eldest,” he said. “Our eldest brother, Rama, will be king.”
“I will bring Rama home from the forest,” said Bharata. “Let a road be made, and let an army come with me to find him.”
The people wept for joy. “May good fortune be with you,” they said. “Workers have been told to make the road.”
At daybreak Bharata climbed into his chariot and set off. He wanted to see Rama and bring him home. The ministers, the priests and the people of Ayodhya went with him.
“When we see Rama,” the people said as they walked, “all our sorrow will go away, like darkness when the sun rises.” Bharata’s journey goes on in the next story.
For grown-ups
Where this story comes from
This story is retold from the Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda: sarga 70 (verses 2–3, the call home), sargas 72–79 (Bharata’s homecoming, the news, his refusal, the kingmakers’ offer) and sarga 83 (verses 1–9, the setting out). 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.
Read the full episode
Three things this telling leaves out, and why
- Dasharatha’s death, last words and funeral (sarga 72, verses 15–21, 36–38, 51; sarga 76, verses 3–23; sarga 77, verses 1–9). The story says only that Bharata’s father “has died”. Valmiki tells of the king’s last words, the funeral rites and the gathering of the bones; for a bedtime story we kept only that Bharata did what a son must do and the house mourned for ten days (76.23).
- Bharata’s anger at his mother (sarga 73, verses 3–12 and 17–18; sarga 74, verses 2–14 and 29–33). Valmiki gives Bharata long, hard words for Kaikeyi, including curses and a cruel suggestion at 74.33. We tell only that he was so hurt he could not speak to her as before (page 10). If your child asks: he was so hurt and angry that he could not talk to her the way he used to. That is what grief does. He did not stop being her son.
- Why Kaikeyi asked, and why the king agreed (sarga 72, verses 46–52). A child may ask, “But why did Kaikeyi do this? Why did the king say yes?” The story says only what Kaikeyi herself says on the page: she wanted her son to be king, she asked the king for it, the king agreed (72.49–50), and Rama had done nothing wrong (72.48). The reasons behind the king’s agreement come from earlier in the Ayodhya Kanda and are not told here. One gentle answer for your child: “Kaikeyi wanted Bharata to be king. But Bharata did not want to be king, because the crown was Rama’s.”
- Bharata’s oaths and Kausalya’s hard words (sarga 75, verses 11–16 and 21–58). Kausalya, grieving, speaks bitterly to Bharata (75.11–16), and he answers with a long run of solemn oaths (75.21–58). We keep only that she is weeping, that he tells her how much he loves Rama (75.20), and that she holds him and they weep together (75.63).
- Shatrughna and Manthara (sarga 78). Shatrughna seizes Manthara in rage and drags her along the floor, and Bharata stops him. This is violence and is not needed for the arc, so it is left out.
- Shatrughna’s grief-vow (sarga 77, verses 17–18). In his grief Shatrughna says he will “enter a fire” (77.17). Left out.
- The road and the procession (sarga 71; sargas 80–82; sarga 83, verses 3–7 and 10–20). The long ride home (71), the preparations (80–81) and the assembly (82) are skipped. In the procession (83), Valmiki counts the elephants, chariots and horsemen, lists the craftspeople who came, and names Kaikeyi and the other queens among the travellers (83.6). We tell only that ministers, priests and the people of Ayodhya went with him, and we stop at the sunrise line (83.9), before the party reaches the river Ganga.
Compressed: the ride home is one line (70.28; 71; 72.8–9 give only “a chariot”, “fast”, and that he arrived ahead of his followers). Kaikeyi’s greeting and questions (72.2–10) are one page. Bharata’s speeches in 73 and 75 are cut to the lines that tell his mind: he wants no kingdom without his father and Rama (73.2), the crown goes to the eldest (73.20–22), he will bring Rama back (73.26–27), and he never wanted this (75.3–4). Vasishta’s comfort (77.21–23) is shortened to one sentence. The kingmakers’ offer and Bharata’s answer (79) are told in three pages, with the army and road made one clause (79.9–10, 79.13). Where Bharata had thought the king would make Rama prince regent, i.e. heir (72.27), we say “the future king”. The word dharma (page 11) is a gloss: the verses speak of the custom and righteousness of the Ikshvaku kings (73.20–23), and we name that as dharma.
The question children ask here
“Why did Bharata say no to being king?” Valmiki gives Bharata’s own reasons:
- he never wanted the kingdom and did not even know about it (sarga 75, verses 3–4);
- a kingdom meant nothing to him without his father and his brother Rama, whom he loved dearly (sarga 73, verses 2 and 13; sarga 75, verse 20);
- in his family the crown goes to the eldest son, as it did for the Ikshvaku kings (sarga 73, verses 20–22; sarga 79, verses 7–8);
- and he wanted to bring Rama back and serve him (sarga 73, verses 26–27; sarga 79, verses 9–10).
“The crown was Rama’s, and Bharata loved Rama more than he wanted a kingdom.”
A Sanatani Production
