Under the BanyanOld stories, illustrated and annotated

The Ramayana, issue 5 of 10

The Road South

No one ordered them to follow.

Why this issue matters Two journeys in one issue: the exiles go south into the forest, while in Ayodhya an old wrong comes due and the king dies of grief. The lesson
Who's who

Tap any page to see it full screen and zoom in.

The Road South, cover
The Road South, page 2
The Road South, page 3
The Road South, page 4
The Road South, page 5
The Road South, page 6
The Road South, page 7
The Road South, page 8
The Road South, page 9
The Road South, page 10
The Road South, page 11
The Road South, page 12
The Road South, page 13
The Road South, page 14
The Road South, page 15
The Road South, page 16
The Road South, page 17
The Road South, page 18
The Road South, page 19
The Road South, page 20
The Road South, page 21
The Road South, page 22
The Road South, page 23
The Road South, page 24
The Road South, page 25
The Road South, page 26
The Road South, page 27
The Road South, page 28
The Road South, page 29
The Road South, page 30
The Road South, page 31
The Road South, page 32
The Road South, page 33
The Road South, page 34
The Road South, page 35
The Road South, page 36
The Road South, page 37
The Road South, page 38

The lesson of issue 5

The fruit of an old deed

Dasharatha remembers a night from his youth: an arrow shot at a sound in the dark, a young ascetic killed, a blind father's curse. 'A man cuts down his mango grove for the flame tree's flowers; when the fruit is due, he grieves.' Actions return, sometimes many years later. The king does not blame anyone else. He knows the grief has come through his own deed.

To think about

Is there a choice from long ago whose effects you are still living with, for good or ill?

Notes on the tellings

Where this issue follows Valmiki, and where other tellings differ. Each note also appears on its page.

  • Page 8 In Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, the boatman Kevat washes Rama's feet. In Valmiki, Lakshmana washes them, and Guha's own people row the boat.
  • Page 10 In Kamban's Tamil Ramayana, not Valmiki, Rama tells Guha as they part: "We were four. Now, with you, we are five."
  • Page 15 Only the vulgate tells of Rama visiting Valmiki at Chitrakuta: the poet meets the hero of his poem.
  • Page 23 In Valmiki, the prince took the sound of the filling pitcher for an elephant drinking. We leave that detail out.
  • Page 24 In Valmiki, the young ascetic is never named. The name Shravana Kumara comes from later retellings, as does the famous image of him carrying his parents in two baskets on a shoulder pole.
  • Page 24 The spilled pitcher and the king's pause before he draws the arrow are found only in the vulgate.
  • Page 25 In Valmiki, the dying boy tells the king that his birth is not what the king fears, to ease the king's guilt.
  • Page 28 In the vulgate, the grieving parents then give up their lives on a funeral fire. The critical edition ends the story with the curse.
  • Page 30 The cross-cut to Rama keeping watch at Chitrakuta on the night the king dies is our storytelling, not Valmiki's.
  • Page 31 With none of his sons present, the ministers keep Dasharatha's body in a trough of fragrant sesame oil until Bharata arrives (critical edition 2.60).