महावीरचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - वीररस-प्रधान रामकथा नाटक सम्पूर्ण ७ अङ्क सटीक)

Introduction [l
fulfil immediately the two boons which on an earlier occasion he had
granted her. Daśaratha consents, but is sorely grieved to learn that the
boons are: 1. That Bharata, Kaikeyī's son, be appointed heir-apparent;
2. that Rāma be forthwith sent away into exile for fourteen years. As
the king could not belie his words, Rāma had to submit to the wishes
of his step-mother, which he cheerfully does. His wife Sītā and his
brother Lakshmaṇa ¹ refuse to be left behind, and they are all three
accordingly carried away through the weeping multitudes. The old king
was so much afflicted by this great blow that he barely lived to hear the
news of the exiles being taken over safe beyond the boundaries of his
kingdom.
18, F.—Bharata, who all this while was in utter ignorance of the
happenings at Ayodhyā, is now sent for in order to perform the obsequies
of his father and assume the sovereignty thus devolved upon him. He
returns; but discovering the mean conduct of his mother, he reproves her
bitterly, and refuses to take charge of the kingdom and thus give his
consent to the base intrigue. He resolves immediately to start in search
of Rāma, and to implore him to return. On the other side of the Ganges,
near the mountain called Chitrakūṭa, close by the saint Bharadvāja's
hermitage, Bharata finds Rāma leading a forester's life in the company
of his wife and brother. Rāma is struck by Bharata's magnanimity, but
insists upon carrying out his father's command to the letter, and is unwilling
to return before the completion of the full term of fourteen years. Bharata
thereupon resolves to keep company with Rāma; the latter, however,
reminds him of the duty they all owed to their subjects, and persuades him
to return, which Bharata does, only on the condition that Rāma will come
back at the appointed time, himself in the meanwhile conducting the affairs
of the state only as Rāma's agent. END OF AYODHYĀ-KĀṆḌA.
18, G.—Rāma now resolves to withdraw farther away from his kingdom,
and learning that the regions on the other side of the Vindhya mountains
were infested with wild demons and cannibals, he sets forth in that
direction. At his entrance into the Vindhya forests he meets the demon
Virādha, whom he kills. He then meets a number of sages and ascetics, in
whose company he is said to have passed no less than ten years.² Going

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Footnotes

¹ The two brothers, Bharata and Śatrughna, were at this time absent in the kingdom of their maternal uncle.
² These seem to be quite uneventful years; and it is rather strange that Rāma should, for the sake of a few months, think of building a hut at Pañchavaṭī (see below), and do nothing of the kind here, where he stayed so long. Evidently something is wrong with the text of the epic. We may add that the Padma-Purāṇa (vi. 269²²⁶) says that it was in Pañchavaṭī that Rāma stayed so many years; and this appears more probable.