The Ramayana · 489 of 493

Yuddha Kānda (The War Book): Canto 126 — Bharat Consoled

But Ráma bade the chariot stay, And halting in his airy way, In Bharadvája’s holy shade His homage to the hermit paid. “O saint,” he cried, “I yearn to know My dear Ayodhyá’s weal and woe. O tell me that the people thrive, And that the queens are yet alive.”

Joy gleamed in Bhardvája’s eye, Who gently smiled and made reply: “Thy brother, studious of thy will, Is faithful and obedient still. In tangled twine he coils his hair: Thy safe return is all his care. Before thy shoes he humbly bends, And to thy house and realm attends. When first these dreary years began, When first I saw the banished man, With Sítá, in his hermit coat, At this sad heart compassion smote. My breast with tender pity swelled: I saw thee from thy home expelled, Reft of all princely state, forlorn, A hapless wanderer travel-worn, Firm in thy purpose to fulfil Thy duty and thy father’s will. But boundless is my rapture now: Triumphant, girt with friends, art thou. Where’er thy wandering steps have been, Thy joy and woe mine eyes have seen. Thy glorious deeds to me art known, The Bráhmans saved, the foes o’erthrown. Such power have countless seasons spent In penance and devotion lent. Thy virtues, best of chiefs, I know, And now a boon would fain bestow. This hospitable gift(1024) receive: Then with the dawn my dwelling leave.” The bended head of Ráma showed His reverence for the grace bestowed; Then for each brave companion’s sake He sought a further boon and spake:

Context

Hanumān is sent ahead to read Bharata's face. The instruction Rāma gives is precise: do not just deliver the message, watch his expression, observe whether his thirst for the throne has grown in the years of regency, and come back and tell me what you saw. The detail is one of the small political-realism touches Vālmīki adds to his idealized portraits. Even between brothers, even between the brother who carried Rāma's sandals on the throne for fourteen years and the brother who is now returning to claim it, the homecoming begins with a scout. Hanumān finds Bharata in penitential dress, pale and worn, still mounting the sandals on the throne. The scout's report comes back clean.On political realism in the Rāma-Bharata homecoming: V. Raghavan, The Greater Rāmāyaṇa (1973); on Bharata as the model regent, B.A. van Nooten, intro to Rāmāyaṇa Yuddha Kāṇḍa, in the Mehta translation.

“O let that mighty power of thine The road to fair Ayodhyá line With trees where fruit of every hue The Vánars’ eye and taste may woo, And flowers of every season, sweet With stores of honeyed juice, may meet.” The hero ceased: the hermit bent His reverend head in glad assent; And swift, as Bharadvája willed, The prayer of Ráma was fulfilled. For many a league the lengthening road Trees thick with fruit and blossom showed With luscious beauty to entice The taste like trees of Paradise. The Vánars passed beneath the shade Of that delightful colonnade, Still tasting with unbounded glee The treasures of each wondrous tree.