Having thus reproved his mother in great wrath, Bharata said again, "Do
thou bear thyself from this kingdom, O heartless and wicked Kaikeyi.
Having been lost to righteousness, do not thou lament me dead. What
qualities of thine were taxed by the king or the exceedingly virtuous
Rama, that both of them simultaneously have come by death and exile
respectively through thy agency? O Kaikeyi, thou hast been guilty of
homicide in consequence of the destruction of this race. Do thou go to
hell, never to the world attained by my father; since, renouncing Rama
dear unto all, thou hast committed this sin by thy grim act and brought
me into fear. Through thee hath my father met with his end, and Rama
hath taken refuge in the woods; and it is through thee that I have come
to ignominy among all creatures. O thou enemy of mine in the guise of a
mother! O fell one! O thou that covetest the kingdom! do thou not speak
to me, O wicked wretch! O slayer of thy husband! it is because of thee,
stainer of thy race, that Kaucalya, Sumitra, and other mothers of mine
have been overwhelmed with a mighty sorrow. Thou art never the daughter
of the pious and intelligent Acwapati, thou art a Rakshasi born in that
race, thou that hast destroyed my father's race, inasmuch as the
virtuous and heroic Rama ever observing truth hath been sent to the
woods and my father hath ascended heaven through thy agency; inasmuch as
thou that hast perpetrated this arch offence, hast laid this sin on me,
who have been forsaken by my sire, renounced by my brothers, and come by
universal disfavor. O thou of sinful ways, having separated the virtuous
Kaucalya (from her son), what world, O thou that repairest to hell,
shall be thy portion? Dost thou not, O tortuous one, know that that one
sprung from Kaucalya's, self, my eldest brother Rama, who is like a
father unto me, has ever been the refuge of his friends? A son born from
all the limbs of his mother, comes out from her heart; and therefore it
is that he is far dearer unto his mother, albeit her friends are dear to
her.[166] Once on a time, it is related by persons cognizant of
morality, Surabhi regarded by the celestials, beheld two of her sons
toiling on earth and seeming to be deprived of their senses. And, when
the day had been half spent, seeing her sons fatigued on earth, she
stricken with grief for them, began to weep with tears flooding her
eyes. And it came to pass that as the magnanimous sovereign of the
celestials was passing below, her fine and fragrant tear-drops fell on
his person. Turning his eyes up, Sakra found Surabhi stationed in the
sky, distressed and weeping in extreme anguish of spirit. Seeing that
illustrious one burning in grief, the wielder of the thunder-bolt, Indra
the lord of the celestials, waxing anxious, with joined hands said, 'Is
there any great danger in any quarter? Do thou, O thou that art intent
on the welfare of all, say, whence is this grief of thine?' Thus
addressed by the intelligent king of the celestials, that one well
skilled in speech, the sedate Surabhi answered, 'Auspiciousness, O lord
of celestials! No sin is yours. But I mourn my sons fallen into evil
plight, having seen them lean, distressed, and burnt by the rays of the
sun-- Valivarddhas afflicted by the wicked-minded ploughman. Seeing
those that have been born of my body, cast down and in trouble, I
grieve: there is none that is dear like unto a son.' Seeing her the
whole earth is filled with whose sons by thousands, weeping, Indra
understood that none is an object of greater affection than a son. And
that lord, Indra, also considered Surabhi of a person breathing a sacred
odour, whose tears had dropped on his body, as the foremost being on
earth. Even that one yeilding whatever is asked, auspicious, crowned
with the choicest virtues, although having all natural functions,
showing equal kindness unto all, and of unequalled character, who
maintaineth all creatures, she who hath a thousand sons, grieves (for
her sons). How can then Kaucalya carry on existence without Rama? Chaste
and having an only son, that lady has through thee been separated from
her son, (like a cow separated from her calf). For this, thou wilt
always have to suffer misery alike in this world and the next I shall
for my part completely minister unto my brother and father; and shall,
without doubt, increase my fame. Bringing hither the mighty-armed lord
of Kocala endowed with immense strength, I myself will repair to the
forest inhabited by ascetics. O thou that hast delivered thyself over to
iniquity! I, looked at by the citizens with their throats oppressed with
the vapour of grief, cannot bear this (burden of) sin heaped on me by
thee. Do thou enter fire, or dive into Dandaka, or wound a cord round
thy neck: other desirable way there is none for thee. On Rama having
truth for prowess, obtaining the earth, I, my disgrace removed, shall be
blest." Grieving thus, Bharata, like an elephant in the forest afflicted
with a _tomara_ or _ankusa_,[167] fell to the earth sighing like an
enraged snake. With his eyes reddened, and his cloth falling off, and
his ornaments cast away, that subduer of foes, the king's son fallen on
the earth, resembled a banner of Sakra after the festival is over.
[166] _Angapratyangaja: lit., born from the limbs principal and minor_.
The commentator recounts the face, the breast, the abdomen, the
hands and the feet as constituting the former; and eyes, fingers,
&c., as the latter.
[167] Names of instruments.