Rama stood on the sandals, then stepped down. He gave them to Bharata.
Bharata bowed to the sandals. “For fourteen years I will live outside the city,” he said. “I will wear bark cloth and tangled hair, and eat only fruits and roots. I give the care of the kingdom to your sandals.”
“So be it,” said Rama. He held Bharata close, and Shatrughna too.
“Look after your mother, Kaikeyi,” said Rama. Tears filled his eyes as he said goodbye to his brother.
Bharata honoured the beautiful sandals. He knew what was dharma, and he walked around Rama in respect.
Rama greeted the elders, the ministers and the people. The queens were crying too hard to speak. Rama bowed to them all, and went weeping into his hut.
Bharata set the sandals on his head and climbed into his chariot with Shatrughna. He was bringing Rama’s sandals home. Vasishta the priest and the ministers went on ahead.
They went around the great mountain, Chitrakuta, and along the River Mandakini, past thousands of lovely rocks.
Near the mountain lived a sage named Bharadvaja. Bharata climbed down from his chariot and bowed at the sage’s feet. “Did you get what you came for?” asked Bharadvaja happily. “Have you met Rama?”
Bharata told him that Rama would not be moved. Rama had given Bharata his sandals, as a sign that Bharata would keep the kingdom for him.
“It is no wonder that you are so good, Bharata,” said Bharadvaja. “Water runs downhill without trying. Goodness comes to you just as easily.” Bharata touched the sage’s feet, and walked around him again and again before he left.
The army turned back. They crossed the Yamuna and the Ganga rivers and came to a town. From there, Bharata saw Ayodhya again.
Bharata’s heart was heavy, for his father and his brother were gone from Ayodhya. “Look at the city,” he said to his charioteer. “It is so empty and sad.”
“I do not hear the music as I used to,” said Bharata. “I do not hear horses or chariots. No one goes out wearing flower garlands. There are no festivals.”
“The shine of Ayodhya went away with my brother,” said Bharata. “When will he come back, and fill the city with joy, like the autumn rains?”
Bharata went into his father’s house. It was empty, like a cave when its lion is gone. Bharata was a calm man, but he wept.
Bharata brought the queens back to Ayodhya. Then he spoke to Vasishta and the elders. “I am going to Nandigrama,” he said. “There I can bear my sadness better.”
“My father has gone to heaven, and my elder brother is in the forest,” said Bharata. “I will wait for Rama to come home, for he alone is the lord of Ayodhya.”
Vasishta and the ministers answered, “Your words are worthy of you, Bharata. Who would not agree?”
Bharata bowed to all the queens. Then he and Shatrughna got into the chariot and set out for Nandigrama. The priests went ahead, and the army and the people of Ayodhya followed. Bharata carried Rama’s sandals on his head.
At Nandigrama, Bharata stepped down from his chariot and spoke to the elders. “My brother gave me this kingdom to look after for him,” he said. “These sandals, trimmed with gold, will bring good and safety to the people.”
“Hold the royal canopy over the sandals,” said Bharata, “for they stand for my brother’s feet. I will keep this trust until he returns, and when he does, I will put the sandals back on his feet.”
“Then I will give the kingdom back to my brother, and be his servant,” Bharata said. He put on bark cloth and tangled hair, and lived at Nandigrama like a hermit.
The sandals were set on the throne, and Bharata himself held the royal canopy over them. Whatever came up, big or small, even a rich gift, he told the sandals first, and only then did what was proper. And Bharata waited, wishing always for the return of Rama.
For grown-ups
Where this story comes from
This story is retold from the Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda: sarga 112 (verses 22–31, Rama gives the sandals and says goodbye), sarga 113 (verses 1–24, the road home and Bharadvaja’s hermitage), sarga 114 (verses 19–29, the quiet city) and sarga 115 (verses 1–27, Nandigrama and the sandals on the throne). 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
- The vow to enter the fire (sarga 112, verse 25).. Bharata says that if he does not see Rama the day after the fourteen years are done, he will enter the fire (112.25). It is a vow to harm himself, and the story does not need it, so it is left out. We keep the rest of that speech: the fourteen years, the bark cloth, the fruits and roots, and the kingdom given to the sandals.
- Rama’s other words about Kaikeyi, and Sita’s name (sarga 112, verses 27–28).. Rama says, “Protect your mother, Kaikeyi,” and we tell that. He goes on to say, “Do not get angry with her,” and then adds that Bharata is bound by a vow made to Rama and Sita (112.27–28). The words about anger point to a blame this story does not tell, so we leave them out, and with them the vow clause, which is the only place Sita is named in these verses. Neither Sita nor Lakshmana is on a page or in a picture of this story; the earlier story told that they went to the forest with Rama.
- The elephant (sarga 112, verse 29) and Vasishta’s request (sarga 113, verses 12–13).. Valmiki’s tellings do not quite agree here. Verse 112.29 says Bharata set the sandals on the head of an excellent elephant, while 113.1 and 115.12 have him carry them on his own head; we keep his head. In the last story Bharata asks Rama to stand on the sandals (112.20–21), while in 113.12 Bharata tells Bharadvaja that Vasishta had asked Rama for them. We keep the telling already told and say only that Rama gave them, “as a sign” that Bharata would keep the kingdom for him (113.13).
- Bharadvaja’s words about Bharata’s father (sarga 113, verse 17).. After the water simile, the sage calls Dasharatha “immortal in having such a son” (113.17). We keep the praise of Bharata and leave this half out, so as not to bring up the king’s death a second time.
- The emptied city (sarga 114, verses 2–17).. Before Bharata speaks, Valmiki describes Ayodhya in a long run of comparisons: a night with cats and owls, an army broken in battle with its warriors slain, a tavern whose keeper was killed, a bowstring cut by arrows, a mare killed in war, an eclipse, a sacrificial fire sinking to ash. These are frightening and not needed. We keep only the quiet: no music, no garlands, no festivals, the city’s shine gone, and Bharata weeping in his father’s empty house (114.19–29). We also leave out the smaller details of 114.20, 23 and 27 (perfumes, incense, the young people’s dress and the empty roads).
- What washes away sin, and fame (sarga 115, verses 20–21).. Bharata says that by giving the kingdom back he will be washed of his sins and win four times the fame and happiness (115.20–21). It is a hard idea for this age, and the story does not need it.
- Names and small details (sarga 113, verses 2 and 14; sarga 115, verses 5–6 and 22).. Valmiki names Jabali and others among those who went ahead (113.2); only Vasishta is kept. The town where the army rests is named Shringibhera (113.22); the page says only “a town”. Bharata’s repeat that he is on his way to Ayodhya (113.14), the ministers’ second line of praise (115.5–6 in part) and the general lament of 115.22 are folded into the pages or left out.
- Does Rama come back?. This story stops at 115.27, with Bharata still waiting and the sandals on the throne. It does not tell whether or how Rama returns, because that is outside the verses this story is told from. If your child asks, this is a good moment to open Ask Acharya below: the guide can answer from there.
- What later tellings add and Valmiki’s verses here do not.. These verses (sargas 112–115) do not tell of Bharata sleeping on grass or eating once a day, or of a count of the days, or of Rama’s side of the parting after he enters his hut (the story stops at 112.31 for that).
Compressed: the farewell (112.22–31) is six pages, with Rama’s words to Bharata and Bharata’s vow shortened to their plain sense (112.23–25, 27–28). The road home (113.1–4, 20–22) is three short pages, the two river crossings becoming one sentence. At 112.30 Rama also greets his brothers and is “firm in his own dharma”; page 6 keeps the elders, ministers and people, the queens and his bowing, and leaves those two phrases out. Bharadvaja’s water simile (113.16) is put in plain words, “water runs downhill without trying”, for the verse’s “as naturally as water always settles downwards”. What Bharata tells Bharadvaja (113.9–14) is one line: Rama would not be moved, and gave the sandals as a sign. The three pages of the quiet city draw on 114.19–29, merging the speeches of 114.19, 21–22 and 24 into one. Bharata’s speeches at 115.1–3 and Nandigrama (115.13–19) are shortened but keep their meaning, and the lines of 115.23–27 are gathered on the last two pages. The dialogue is a plain-English rendering of the translation, not a word-for-word quotation. Where the verse says “trust” (115.14, 115.17) the story says “look after for him” or “keep this trust”; where the translation says “regency” (113.13) it says “keep the kingdom for him”. “Dharma” is a gloss: verse 112.29 calls Bharata one who knew righteousness (dharmavit), and the page names that. The source says Bharata was delighted as he climbed into the chariot (113.1) and pleased as he set out for Nandigrama (115.8–9). We leave that delight unsaid on pages 7 and 20, because Rama has just gone weeping into his hut and the page should not sit against it; we say only what Bharata was doing, and that he was bringing Rama’s sandals home. The source does not say why he was delighted, and we give no reason. “Mothers” in 112.31 and 115.1 and 115.8 is told as “the queens”, as in the last story.
The question children ask here
“Why did Bharata put Rama’s sandals on the throne instead of ruling himself?” Valmiki gives these reasons, in Bharata’s own words and in the telling:
- the kingdom was Rama’s: Bharata calls Rama “the lord of Ayodhya” and says he will wait for him to return (sarga 115, verse 3);
- Rama had given him the sandals “as a sign” that Bharata would keep the kingdom for him (sarga 113, verse 13), and Bharata calls the kingdom a trust, given by his brother (sarga 115, verses 14 and 17);
- the sandals stand for Rama’s feet, so the canopy is held over them (sarga 115, verse 16);
- he will put the sandals back on Rama’s feet and give the kingdom back, and be his servant (sarga 115, verses 18–19);
- and in the meantime he tells the sandals every matter first, small or great, before he acts (sarga 115, verse 27).
“The kingdom was Rama’s, so Bharata looked after it for him and kept his place ready.”
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