A story · Ramayana · After the War

Rama Goes Home

Valmiki Ramayana 7.120 · read aloud in the app

The story · English

Lakshmana was gone, and Rama, heavy with grief, called his ministers and the people of the city together. "I will place Bharata, good and brave, on the throne of Ayodhya," he said, "and today I will go into the woods. Gather everything needed for his crowning, and do it quickly. I mean to follow the road Lakshmana has taken." The people heard him and bowed their heads, and they stood so still they seemed lifeless. Bharata was stunned. He spoke bitterly of the kingdom itself. "I swear by the truth," he said, "I would not want heaven without you, let alone a kingdom. Crown the two princes instead. Put Kusha over Kosala and Lava over North Kosala. And send fast messengers to Shatrughna to tell him we are going."

Vasishtha the priest saw the people with their heads bowed to the ground. "Look, Rama," he said. "Your people have thrown themselves down. Understand what they want, and give it to them." Rama raised them up. "What can I do for you?" he asked. "Wherever you go, we will follow," they said. "If you love your people at all, let us come with our wives and our children. Forest, wild country, river or ocean, it makes no difference to us, so long as you do not leave us behind. That is the only gift we ask. Our happiness is in following you." Rama saw how firm their love was, and he agreed. Then he crowned Kusha in Kosala and Lava in the northern country, gave each a thousand chariots, ten thousand elephants, ten thousand horses and great wealth, and sent a messenger to Shatrughna.

The messengers rode without stopping for three days and three nights and came to Mathura. They told Shatrughna everything: that Lakshmana had been given up, what Rama had vowed, and how the citizens had chosen to follow him. "Rama has built Kusha a wide city called Kusavati at the foot of the Vindhya hills," they said, "and the city of Sravanti for Lava. Rama and Bharata are emptying Ayodhya of its people and preparing to go to heaven." Then the messengers rested, and afterwards they asked Shatrughna to come quickly. Shatrughna understood that his whole line was coming to its end. He called his people and his priests and told them all of it, and told them too that he would go with his brothers. Then he crowned his two sons, Subahu in Mathura and Satrughati in Vidisha.

With his sons settled, Shatrughna climbed into his chariot and drove to Ayodhya. There he found Rama among the ascetics, dressed in silk and shining like a fire. Shatrughna bowed, joined his hands, and said, "I have put my two sons on my throne. I have made up my mind to follow you. Do not tell me otherwise. All I ask is that I never fail to do what you command." Rama saw that his brother would not be moved, and he agreed. No sooner had he spoken than monkeys who could take any shape, bears, and Rakshasas began to gather, with Sugriva at their head. "Rama," they said, "if you go to heaven and leave us, it will be like Yama's rod falling on us." Sugriva bowed. "I have crowned Angada," he said. "I am coming with you." Rama told them their wish would be granted.

Then Rama turned to Bibhishana, king of the Rakshasas. "Bibhishana," he said, "for as long as there are people who breathe, you will live on in your body in Lanka. For as long as the moon and the sun and the earth last, and as long as my story is still told, your kingdom will stand. Out of friendship you did what I asked of you and carried out my work. Rule your people rightly. I will not say anything more than that. What more is there to say to you, mighty king? Only this: worship Jagannath, the lord of the world, who has always been the guardian of the house of Ikshwaku." Bibhishana, who had always kept Rama's word, heard him and took it to heart.

Rama spoke next to Hanuman. "It has been settled that you will live forever," he said. "Now keep that promise. For as long as my story is told in this world, stay here, by my command, and be happy." Hanuman's heart filled with joy. "For as long as that sacred story is told in this world," he said, "I will stay here and do what you ask." Then Rama spoke to Jambhuvan, the son of Brahma, and to Mainda and Dwivida and five others who were with them. "As long as the Kali age lasts," he told them, "all of you are to live." When he had spoken to each of them, Rama turned to the rest of the bears and monkeys gathered there. "All of you," he said, "come with me."

The night passed. In the morning Rama, broad-chested, with eyes like lotus petals, spoke to his priest. "Let the bright parasols and the sacred fires go ahead of us with the Brahmanas, where they will look well on the great road." Vasishtha carefully arranged every rite needed for the passage to the next world. Rama put on a thin garment, took kusa grass between his fingers, and walked toward the banks of the Sarayu, chanting the Vedic hymns. He had let go of every pull of the senses. He went on foot, bearing the hardship of it, silent, blazing like the sun. At his right walked Sree with a lotus in her hand. At his left walked the goddess Earth. Before him went the power of destruction. Arrows and great bows and daggers took living form and followed.

The four Vedas walked with him in the shape of Brahmanas, and Gayatri, who protects all, and the sacred sounds Om and Vashat. Great sages and mighty Asuras followed him to the open gates of heaven. The women of the palace came, young and old, with their attendants. Bharata came with his wife, and the whole household with their sacred fires, their wives and their children. The ministers and servants came with their sons, their animals and their friends, and they were glad. All the people followed, healthy and happy, drawn by Rama's goodness and washed clean of wrong. The monkeys bathed and joined them, joyful and noisy. No one was sad or poor in spirit. Whoever saw Rama leave the city wanted heaven and went with him. Every creature in Ayodhya that breathed, however small, moving or rooted, went too.

After walking more than half a yojana, Rama saw the holy Sarayu flowing west. He crossed partway into its rising waves with all who followed and came to the place where he would leave his body. At that moment Brahma, grandfather of all, arrived with the gods around him and countless shining chariots. The sky was full of light, made brighter still by the radiance of those who live in heaven. Sweet winds blew, flowers fell from the hands of the gods, and the Gandharvas and Apsaras sounded hundreds of trumpets. As Rama stepped toward the water, Brahma spoke from the sky. "Come, Vishnu. Bless you, and how fortunate we are that you have come. Enter with your brothers in whatever form you wish, as the sky or as Vishnu himself. No one knows you, except Maya, wide-eyed, your wife of old."

Rama weighed the words and entered, body and all, with his brothers, in his Vishnu form. Indra, Agni and all the gods worshipped him, with sages, Gandharvas, Nagas, Yakshas, demons and Rakshasas. "Our world is free of sin now," the gods said, "and every wish here is fulfilled." Vishnu said to Brahma, "Give these people a place of their own. They followed me out of love and gave up their bodies for me." Brahma answered, "They will go to Santanaka, the world next to my own, meant even for the lowest-born who sees Vishnu in everything. The monkeys and bears will return to the gods they came from. Sugriva will enter the sun." Then all who stood there at Gopratra went down into the Sarayu, weeping for joy, gave up their bodies, and rose shining into the chariots. Brahma, content, went back to the highest heaven.

कथा · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Lakshmana's Departure · Valmiki Ramayana 7.119
• All of Ramayana · Ask Krishna about it

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