Kevaṭa

Kevaṭa is the boatman who took Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa across the Gaṅgā at the start of their forest exile. He has a very dear place in the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa. He was a humble ferryman. By a clever plea born of devotion, he won the right to wash Rāma’s holy feet with his own hands.

His own name is not given in the account. He appears simply as the nāvika (boatman), the keeper of the boat at Śṛṅgaverapura. His short part is one of the best loved scenes of the exile. It shows that the grace of Bhagavān Rāma reaches every heart, whatever a person’s birth or station.

The meeting at the Gaṅgā

Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa came to the bank of the Gaṅgā near Śṛṅgaverapura. They had parted from Sumantra, and Nishādapati Guha was with them. Rāma sent word to the boatman to bring his boat. Kevaṭa came forward and stood before Rāma with folded hands. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa)

His plea and its reason

Kevaṭa looked at Rāma with eyes full of devotion and spoke very frankly. He had heard the story of Ahalyā. A stone had become a beautiful woman at the touch of Rāma’s feet. So he knew that the dust of Rāma’s feet had the power to change whatever it touched.

He said to Rāma:

“Prabhu Rāma! I have heard that the dust of your feet can turn any substance into a woman. The proof is before me. Your foot-dust touched a hard stone, and it became a lovely person. My wooden boat is no harder than stone. If you step on it, my boat too will become a woman. And this boat, Prabhu Rāma, is how I live. With it I feed my wife and children. I do not refuse to take you across. I only beg your leave to wash your feet first with my own hands. If you allow this, I will take you across and will not take even a cowrie-shell as payment. Even if your brother shoots arrows at me, I will not let you board until I have washed your feet.”

The grace of Rāma

Rāma heard these words, full of bhakti (devotion) in simple village speech. He looked at Sītā and Lakshmaṇa with a knowing smile. His name, heard even once, lets a person cross the ocean of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death). For his three strides, earth and sky were too small. Yet that same Bhagavān Rāma now gently stretched out his foot at the request of a boatman.

Kevaṭa brought a wooden vessel filled with Gaṅgā water. He began to wash Rāma’s lotus feet with trembling hands and a heart full of joy. As his hands touched the feet of Hari and the water of the Gaṅgā touched Hari’s toenails, the Gaṅgā herself rejoiced. The devas in the sky rained flowers on the ferryman. No great ṛshi or deva had gained this by tapas (austerity). This simple boatman gained it by the plainness of his devotion. He served the lotus feet of Bhagavān Vishṇu with his own hands. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa)

Kevaṭa, his wife and his children drank the pāda-tīrtha, the water that had washed Rāma’s feet. They were made pure for countless lifetimes. The devas showered divine flowers on the humble ferryman.

The crossing and the payment

After this holy washing of the feet (pādāvalambana), Kevaṭa carried Rāma, Sītā, Lakshmaṇa and Guha safely to the far bank of the Gaṅgā. He then stood before Rāma with folded hands. His deepest wish was fulfilled.

Rāma was an exile with no possessions, and he worried about the payment. Sītā understood her husband’s concern. She quietly took a precious ring from her own finger and put it in Rāma’s hand to give.

Rāma held out the ring to Kevaṭa. The ferryman took hold of Rāma’s feet instead and said:

“Prabhu Rāma! What have I not received today? My *pāpa (sin) is destroyed. My sorrow is gone. My illness is healed. My poverty has ended. All this by your darśana (sight) and sparśana (touch). Bhagavān Rāma has given me today the fruit of all my long labour. What more could I need? When you come back safely, I will take with my eyes whatever you give me then. Please accept my praṇāma (bow) and bless me.”*

Rāma was moved by the purity of this refusal. He gave Kevaṭa akshaya bhakti (devotion that never runs out), which would stay with him through all his births. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa)

The meaning of the scene

In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa tradition, the Kevaṭa scene is told as an example of pure nishkāma bhakti (devotion that wants nothing in return). A boatman, a man of the lowest station, received what kings, ṛshis and devas had sought. He served Rāma’s lotus feet with his own hands and drank the pāda-tīrtha.

Ahalyā was freed from her state as a stone by the touch of Rāma’s feet. Kevaṭa, knowing this, sought the same grace. He did not seek freedom from a curse. He sought the joy of that same touch.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa