Under the BanyanOld stories, illustrated and annotated

The Ramayana, issue 6 of 10

The Woods of Chitrakuta

An army marches into the forest, not for war, but for a brother.

Why this issue matters Bharata refuses the throne his mother won for him and leads a whole army into the forest to bring Rama home. The lesson
Who's who

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The Woods of Chitrakuta, cover
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The lesson of issue 6

Judged by the army, not the heart

Almost everyone misreads Bharata. Guha guards the river against him, Bharadvaja tests him, and Lakshmana climbs a tree ready to fight. They see an army and assume an attack. Only Rama trusts his brother without seeing him. Bharata, meanwhile, sleeps on the ground where Rama slept and calls himself only his servant.

To think about

Have you ever been judged by appearances, or judged someone else that way and been wrong?

Notes on the tellings

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

  • Page 7 In both the critical edition and the vulgate, Kaikeyi travels to Chitrakuta with Kausalya and Sumitra to bring Rama home.
  • Page 9 In Valmiki, Guha first orders five hundred armed boats to guard the Ganga against Bharata, then uses the same five hundred boats to ferry Bharata's army across. Staging the boats as a river blockade is ours.
  • Page 11 When Guha recounts Lakshmana's sleepless night watch, Valmiki never mentions Urmila. The story that Urmila slept fourteen years in Lakshmana's place is later folk tradition.
  • Page 12 Under the ingudi tree, Bharata sees specks of gold and silk threads from Sita's sari caught in the grass. That is why, in our telling, Sita kept her silk and jewellery under her bark wrap.
  • Page 13 Bharata vows at the ingudi tree to wear bark and matted hair, but at Prayaga he still wears mourning silk, and he takes up bark only at Nandigrama. We keep him in mourning silk until then, in Issue 7.
  • Page 17 At Prayaga, Bharadvaja tells Bharata not to blame Kaikeyi, saying Rama's exile will bring great good to the world.
  • Page 33 Short linking lines, such as Manthara's cry for mercy and Rama calling Bharata's name, are our additions.