Rāma’s Return and Coronation

After Rāvaṇa was killed, Bhagavān Rāma came back to Ayodhyā on the Pushpaka vimāna (flying chariot). With him were Sītā, Lakshmaṇa, Sugrīva, Hanumān and Vibhīshaṇa. The account tells of the meeting with Bharata at Nandigrāma, the entry into Ayodhyā, Rāma’s visits to his three mothers and his coronation. These events are in the opening chapters of the Pātāla Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa.

The framing dialogue

The Pātāla Khaṇḍa opens with a talk between the ṛshis at Naimishāraṇya and Sūta. Sūta tells how the great ṛshi Vātsyāyana asked Śesha, the king of serpents who holds up the earth, to give him the full account of Rāma’s Aśvamedha yajña. Śesha was moved to devotion and fell into a state of deep meditation. He spoke in a halting voice, with the hair of his body standing on end. He said that the story of Rāma fills a hundred crore verses, and that even his own telling is like a gnat in the ocean of Rāma’s glory. (Chapter 1)

Bharata’s tapas at Nandigrāma

As the Pushpaka drew near Ayodhyā, Rāma saw Nandigrāma from the sky. This is the village where Bharata had kept his vigil through all fourteen years of the exile.

Bharata had refused every royal comfort. He lived in a cave, wore matted hair and bark clothes, and his body was thin. He lived barely on barley food and water. Each day he cried to the rising sun: “For my sake even Rāmachandra, honoured by the world, went to the forest. Oh! that Sītā, who was pained even by a stalk in her bed of flowers, now wanders from forest to forest.” His ministers and the aged Vasishṭha stayed with him all this time. (Chapter 1)

Hanumān’s mission and the meeting

Rāma’s heart was troubled by his eagerness to see Bharata, so he sent Hanumān ahead as a messenger. Hanumān flew to Nandigrāma and saw Bharata surrounded by old ministers. He told him that Rāma was coming.

At once Bharata’s body was soaked in a flood of joy, and his right arm throbbed with good signs. He stood up with joined palms and said: “I have nothing to give you. As long as I live, I am the servant of Rāma.”

Vasishṭha and the ministers then went to Rāma’s path. Rāma saw Bharata coming on foot, in bark clothes and with matted hair. He came down from the Pushpaka and ran towards him, crying “O brother! O brother!”, and held him in his arms. Bharata fell flat on the ground before Rāma like a staff. He wept and did not rise even when Rāma lifted him firmly. He said: “O Rāma, just those feet of yours, which Sītā’s hands felt too rough, wandered for my sake in the forest.”

Sītā received Bharata with respect, as a mother receives a son. All of them boarded the Pushpaka again, and Rāma saw his father’s city coming near. (Chapter 2)

Entry into Ayodhyā

Bharata at once sent his friend and minister Sumukha to Ayodhyā to make the city ready for the celebration. The whole city was decorated. The roads were sprinkled with sandal water. The houses were adorned with flowers and bright pictures. Arches were raised. Thousands of well-dressed young girls sat on elephants and scattered pearls.

Rāma came down from the Pushpaka and entered Ayodhyā in a vehicle drawn by men. The citizens called out happily: “Victory to Rāghava, to Rāma! Victory to the ornament of the solar race! Victory to the son of Daśaratha!” The women of the city pressed to the latticed windows to see Rāma’s lotus-like face. They said: “Oh, we are blessed today! The bhilla-girls who drank this face with their eyes in the forest were lucky!” (Chapter 3)

Visits to the three mothers

Rāma first went to Kaikeyī. She stood before him with her face turned down, full of shame. Rāma spoke to her kindly and politely: “O mother, I have done all that was ordered. How is it that you do not look at me?” Kaikeyī was overcome and said only: “Rāma, go to your own house.”

From there Rāma went to Sumitrā. She embraced him together with her son Lakshmaṇa and blessed them: “Live long, live long.” Rāma told her: “No brother has removed my grief as this intelligent one has done. What I accomplished, the recovery of Sītā, was the work of Lakshmaṇa.”

Last, Rāma went to his mother Kauśalyā. She had no ornaments, and she was thin from fourteen years of separation. Rāma fell at her feet. She embraced him again and again, with tears and with the hair of her body standing on end. She blessed her daughter-in-law Sītā: “Enjoy for a long time with your husband. Give birth to two sons. Women like you, who share their husband’s pleasures and sorrows, make their family pure.” (Chapter 4)

The coronation and Rāma-rājya

Bharata formally gave back to Rāma the great kingdom that their father had given. The ministers called the astrologers, who fixed a good muhūrta (a favourable time). Rāma was crowned king. He stood on a tiger skin on which the earth with its seven islands had been drawn.

From that day a golden age came over the kingdom. There was no early death, no disease, no trouble from the seasons and no fear of enemies. The trees always bore fruit and the earth gave plenty of grain. People spent their days in knowledge and devotion, and never blamed others. Even the craftsmen, out of respect for Rāma, never did pāpa (sin) even in thought.

Rāma ruled with righteousness for one thousand and eleven years. After that came the washerman’s blame, which led Rāma to give up Sītā. That event set the Aśvamedha yajña in motion. (Chapters 4 to 5)

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1 to 4
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapters 4 to 5 (the coronation and Rāma-rājya)