Rāma Vanagamana

The Vanagamana is Rāma’s departure into the forest. It is the central episode of the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa. Daśaratha had just announced Rāma as Yuvarāja (heir to the throne). Instead, Rāma was sent to the Daṇḍaka forest for fourteen years. His stepmother Kaikeyī demanded it, on the advice of her maidservant Manthara.

Kaikeyī claimed two varas (boons) that Daśaratha had once promised her without conditions. Daśaratha was bound by satya (truth), the highest dharma, and could not refuse, however great his pain. Rāma took it all with complete acceptance and calm. He bore his duty without protest or bitterness. This is pitṛ-vākya-pāripālana, keeping his father’s word, in its fullest form. Sītā and Lakshmaṇa would not stay behind, and the three left Ayodhyā while the whole city wept.

The coronation is announced

Daśaratha was old and wished to place the kingdom in able hands. He called his court of ministers, ṛshis and vassal kings. He told them he would crown Rāma as Yuvarāja the very next morning. The news was met with great joy. Everyone loved Rāma, who was known for his dharma, his courage and his gentle nature. Ayodhyā was decorated and the preparations began.

That evening Daśaratha told Rāma in private to fast through the night with Sītā and be ready at dawn. Rāma went happily to Sītā’s rooms to tell her. The coronation seemed certain. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 1–8)

Manthara’s plot

That same night the maidservant Manthara saw the decorations in Ayodhyā and learned the reason. She went to Kaikeyī in jealous alarm. She argued that Rāma’s coronation would leave Kaikeyī and Bharata depending on Rāma’s kindness. She said that Kauśalyā’s place would rise and Kaikeyī’s would fall, and that Bharata had a right to the throne.

At first Kaikeyī brushed her fears aside, for she loved Rāma like her own son. But Manthara kept on, and she slowly won Kaikeyī over. She reminded Kaikeyī of the two varas that Daśaratha had given her without conditions after she saved his life on the battlefield. They were varas of unlimited reach and had never yet been claimed. Kaikeyī was persuaded. She took off her ornaments and went to the kopa-gṛha (the room of anger), showing her displeasure in the set manner. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–11)

The varas and Daśaratha’s grief

Daśaratha came looking for Kaikeyī and found her lying on the floor of the kopa-gṛha. He sat beside her and with tender words begged her to say what she wanted. He swore he would give her anything. Then Kaikeyī named her two varas. Bharata was to be crowned king. Rāma was to go to the Daṇḍaka forest for fourteen years, wearing bark cloth and matted hair (jaṭā).

Daśaratha was struck as if by a thunderbolt. He fell unconscious, woke, and pleaded all through the night. He called Kaikeyī cruel, reminded her of Rāma’s virtues, and offered her anything else in his power. But Kaikeyī did not give way. Daśaratha was held between two absolute duties: his boundless love for Rāma and the unbreakable dharma of satya, the binding force of his own word. He could find no way out. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–12)

Rāma accepts

The next morning Rāma was called to the court. He expected his coronation. He found his father collapsed in silent grief and Kaikeyī calm and stern. Kaikeyī herself told him of the two varas and of his exile.

Rāma answered at once and fully. He accepted without protest and without grief, in perfect calm. He said that pitṛ-vākya-pāripālana, keeping his father’s word, was his highest dharma, and that he would gladly go to the forest. He even comforted the people around him who were weeping. Throughout the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa this calm before disaster is described as the clearest sign of his greatness. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapter 12)

Kauśalyā’s blessing

Rāma went first to Kauśalyā to ask for her blessing. When she heard the news she was heartbroken. She wept and at first could not bring herself to bless him. She begged him not to go and asked to go with him to the forest.

Rāma spoke to her gently. Dharma required a son to honour his father’s word. The forest held no fear for one who walked in dharma. Her grief would hurt him more than any hardship. He asked her not to add to his burden, and not to add to Daśaratha’s pain by anger or distress toward the king.

Kauśalyā was moved by the depth of his calm and the clearness of his reasons. She overcame her grief and gave Rāma her full blessing. She prayed that the worlds be kind to him and that he return safe and victorious. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 14–15)

Sītā insists on going

Sītā heard of the exile and at once said she would go with Rāma. Rāma tried hard to hold her back. He described the hardships of forest life in full: cold nights on the bare ground, dangerous paths, wild animals, thorns, uncertain food, heavy rain, and no fine clothes or soft beds. He urged her to stay in Ayodhyā and serve Daśaratha and Kauśalyā while he was away.

Sītā answered from her deepest understanding of pativratā dharma (the dharma of a wife devoted to her husband). She said that the husband is a woman’s dharma, her devatā and her highest aim. Where the husband goes, the wife must go. The forest with Rāma would be lovelier than any palace without him. No condition would be hard for her if Rāma were beside her. Rāma accepted her decision. He asked her to give away gifts and make her preparations before they left. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 24–27)

Lakshmaṇa insists on going

Lakshmaṇa also refused to stay, with a force and fire that were his own. He said that without Rāma, life in Ayodhyā had no meaning, and that his whole purpose was to serve Rāma. He said he would walk ahead of Rāma on the forest paths, clearing the way, and would guard both Rāma and Sītā from every danger. He also said, bluntly as always, what he thought of the injustice of what had happened.

After some resistance, Rāma accepted Lakshmaṇa’s decision too. Lakshmaṇa received the blessing of his own mother Sumitrā. She told him to see Rāma as Daśaratha, Sītā as herself, and the forest as Ayodhyā. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 28–31)

Leaving Ayodhyā

Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa took off their royal clothes and put on the bark cloth and jaṭā of forest ascetics. Vasishṭha and the whole court protested. They said this went too far, because bark cloth was for one who had gone to the forest by his own choice, not for a prince sent into exile. But Kaikeyī insisted, and Daśaratha, bound by his oath, could not step in.

The departure from Ayodhyā was a moment of grief for the whole city. The prajā (the common people) ran after Rāma’s chariot and would not let him go. They threw themselves in its path. Women wept from the balconies. Old men called out to Daśaratha to stop this wrong. The horses moved unwillingly. Daśaratha himself ran after the chariot calling “Rāma! Rāma!” until he fell, and Kauśalyā held him up. The chariot, driven by Sumantra, carried the exiles south, out of sight of the city. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 36–40)

The road to Tamasā, Kosala and Śṛṅgaverapura

Rāma asked Sumantra to drive fast to leave the weeping people behind. At nightfall they reached the Tamasā river, their first stop in the forest. The people had followed on foot and camped nearby. At dawn Rāma had Sumantra quietly drive the chariot across a ford upstream, and they left while the townspeople slept. He could not bear to see them weep again.

They went south through the land of Kosala, crossing the Gomatī river and the Sāṇḍikā river. In the villages they passed, the people spoke against Daśaratha and Kaikeyī. They came to Śṛṅgaverapura on the bank of the Gaṅgā, where Guha, the king of the Nishādas and an old friend of Rāma, welcomed them with great love. Rāma refused all the rich hospitality and accepted only fodder for the horses. They spent the night under a great ingudi tree on the riverbank. Guha, Lakshmaṇa and Sumantra stayed awake and kept watch. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 46–51)

Crossing the Gaṅgā and farewell to Sumantra

At dawn at Śṛṅgaverapura, Rāma took leave of Sumantra. He sent him back to Ayodhyā with loving messages for Daśaratha and Kauśalyā, and with exact words on how each member of the family should be spoken to and comforted. Sumantra wept and begged to go with Rāma further, but Rāma urged him to return for the sake of those in Ayodhyā who needed him.

Before crossing, Rāma and Lakshmaṇa matted their hair with the milky sap of the banyan tree. This made their jaṭā and gave them fully the marks of forest ascetics. Guha arranged the boat. In the middle of the river Sītā folded her hands and prayed to the Gaṅgā. She vowed to give ten thousand cows and make joyful pūjā when she came back with Rāma, victorious. They landed on the south bank in the Vatsa country. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 52–53)

Bharadvāja’s āśrama at Prayāga

They went on and came to Prayāga, the holy meeting of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā, where Bharadvāja Maharshi had his āśrama. Bharadvāja received them with all the hospitality due to guests of the highest dharma. Rāma told him their situation and asked his advice on where to live for the fourteen years of exile.

Bharadvāja named Chitrakūṭa as the best place. It is a lovely forest mountain thirty krośas to the south, crossed by the river Mandākinī. He said it was rich in fruit, flowers, birds and ṛshis, and beautiful in every season.

Rāma and Lakshmaṇa built a raft of bamboo and crossed the Yamunā. In the middle of the river Sītā folded her hands and prayed to the Yamunā. She offered pūjā and vowed to offer it again when she returned. On the south bank she also prayed to the great Śyāma banyan tree. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 54–55)

Arrival at Chitrakūṭa

They went on through lovely forests. Rāma pointed out the flowering trees, the birds and the rivers to Sītā with joy. They came to the āśrama of Vālmīki Maharshi at Chitrakūṭa. Vālmīki welcomed them warmly and told them to settle nearby on the bank of the Mandākinī.

Lakshmaṇa built a beautiful parṇaśālā, a thatched forest hut of strong branches and leaves, on the riverbank. Before they entered, Rāma performed a full vāstu pūjā for the new home: Viśvadeva bali, Rudra yāga, Vaishṇava yāga, pañcha-sūnā śānti, and the setting up of Gaṇeśa and the devatās of the household. The parṇaśālā was entered with all the proper rites of consecration. The three settled into forest life on the bank of the lovely Mandākinī, among the ṛshis and the beauty of the forests of Chitrakūṭa. (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapter 56)

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 1–56
• Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 1–8 (the coronation announced)
• Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–12 (Manthara, the varas, Rāma’s acceptance)
• Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 14–15 (Kauśalyā’s blessing)
• Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 24–27 (Sītā), 28–31 (Lakshmaṇa)
• Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 36–40 (the departure), 46–51 (the road to Śṛṅgaverapura), 52–53 (crossing the Gaṅgā), 54–55 (Prayāga), 56 (Chitrakūṭa)