Mystery of a Chaupai of Ramayana

The poignant stories of the characters of Shri Ram and Bharatji in Shri Ram Katha are enough to melt even a stone. After the departure of Shri Ram to the forest and the departure of Maharaj Dasharatha to the afterlife, after the return of Bharat and Shatrughan from their maternal home, the glimpse of the characteristics of Bharatji’s character leaves its indelible mark everywhere in the mind. Bharat becomes very sad after not seeing Shri Ram in the palace. Mother Kaikeyi narrates the entire story to please Bharat. Then Bharat becomes sad and says to him-

bar maangat man bhi na peera.

gari na jeeh munh pareu na keera.

Hey Berin Maharaj, you did not feel pain while asking for two boons from Dashrathji. Why didn’t your tongue melt while asking for the kingdom in the first wish and why didn’t you get worms in your mouth while asking for exile of Shri Ram in the second wish?

Not only this, but what Bharatji said to Mother Kaikeyi is a subject for deep deep contemplation in Shri Ramcharit Manas –

hansabansu dasharathu janaku,

raam lakhan se bhai.

jananee toon jananee bhee, Bidhi san kuchh na basai.

Bharat ji says to mother Kaikeyi, I got Suryavansh, father like Dashrathji and brothers like Shri Ram-Lakshman, but oh mother. You were the mother who gave birth to me. What should be done? No one can do anything in front of the Creator.

If this couplet is seen in the context of canto 35 of Ayodhya Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana, then it can be a similar indication and meaning. Bharat says to his mother Kaikeyi, O mother, you have become like your mother (grandmother) and just as your mother was not a mother but a maid, you have become like this. The incident of this Kumata has been discussed in Valmiki Ramayana through a conversation between minister Sumantra and Kaikeyi in the context of Shri Ram’s departure to the forest –

There is such a story that Kaikeyi’s father Ashwapati had received a boon from a Mahatma that he could hear and understand the voices of all the creatures, insects, animals and birds on earth, but there was a curse along with this boon. If he tells about all this to anyone, he will die instantly.

Once King Kaikeyi was sitting in the square and eating food with Kaikeyi’s mother Pritvi. An ant was carrying a grain of rice outside the square. The other ant politely said – give me this grain, she said – you go inside and bring it, she said that I have come after passing through filth, hence I am impure, I am in the square Can’t go. The first ant showed kindness and handed over the grain to him and then returned to the square to collect the second grain.

Hearing this conversation, King Kaikaya realized how much even the ants of his kingdom care about purity and impurity. He suddenly started laughing. Queen Prithvi wanted to know the reason for his happiness, the king said, “If I tell, I will die”, but Kaikeyi’s mother had some doubts and she became stubborn and insisted on telling me, even after the king tried to explain again and again. Queen Earth did not give up her stubbornness, she even said that it doesn’t matter to me whether you live or die, but tell me immediately what these ants were saying. The king went to that Mahatma ji and told the whole story to Mahatma ji, how the queen is stubbornly sitting in Kop Bhavan, Mahatma ji, please tell me some solution, Mahatma ji repeated again, Rajan, the word cannot be changed, this is true. If you tell anything to anyone, you will die that very moment. Now you have to take the decision, think carefully, Raja. He abandoned the queen and threw her out of the kingdom. He knew that my wife was not concerned about my life and my well-being. This is what Bharat ji says, ‘Your father was saved by taking the right decision at the right time but my Father Maharaj Dashrath is very simple and innocent, he could not understand your crookedness, if he had taken a decision like your father, his life would have been saved. jananee too jananee bhee…