Rāma Pattābhisheka (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa)

The pattābhisheka (royal anointing) of Bhagavān Rāma is the great celebration at the end of the Uttara Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa. It took place on Vaiśākha Kṛshṇa Saptamī. Bhagavān Rāma is Nārāyaṇa himself, though he came as the son of Daśaratha.

Kula-guru Vasishṭha fixed the auspicious hour and directed the preparations. The four Vedas came in human form and sang a stotra. Bhagavān Śiva also came before Rāma and sang a five-verse stotra of deep devotion. Devas, humans, siddhas, kinnaras, gandharvas and beings of all the worlds saw the coronation.

Preparations

After the great reunion with Bharata and the citizens, the family guru Vasishṭha called the brāhmaṇas. With their advice he fixed an auspicious muhūrta (hour) for the Rāma pattābhisheka. He ordered Sumantra and the other ministers to finish all the preparations without delay. The court officials carried out every order quickly. Thousands of attendants gathered the auspicious articles. The whole city was decorated in countless ways. The four-fold army was drawn up and stood in good order. Sumantra went back to Vasishṭha and reported that all arrangements were complete.

Rāma then told his attendants to arrange the ritual bath for his vānara and rākshasa friends. Vibhīshaṇa, Sugrīva, Aṅgada, Hanumān and the chief leaders all bathed and put on fine garments and ornaments. Rāma himself untied Bharata’s matted locks with his own hands. It was a tender act, freeing Bharata from the vow of austerity he had kept for fourteen years. With his own hands Rāma gave all three brothers, Bharata, Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna, the maṅgala-snāna (auspicious bath). Then Rāma put aside his own jaṭāmakuṭa (crown of matted hair), the formal sign that the forest vow had ended, and bathed fully.

The three queens, Kauśalyā, Kaikeyī and Sumitrā, themselves gave Sītādevī the abhyaṅga-snāna (oil bath). They dressed her in priceless ornaments and the finest garments, and brought her to sit on Rāma’s left side. The mothers saw their son and daughter-in-law shining on the seat of the coronation and were filled with brahma-ānanda (the joy of Brahman). They said: “Our births have today borne their fruit.”

The coronation

The great hall was crowded to overflowing. Brahmā and Maheśa led the chief devas, and kings, subjects and guests from every land were there. Sītā and Rāma bowed with folded hands to the elders and climbed onto the jewelled throne. Scholars of the Vedas chanted mantras, the devas gathered and gave their blessings, and shouts of jaya thundered from every side. Then kula-guru Vasishṭha applied the tilaka on the forehead of Rāmacandra.

Vaiśākha Kṛshṇa Saptamī: on this holy day the son of Daśaratha was consecrated as king.

Bharata, Lakshmaṇa, Śatrughna, Vibhīshaṇa, Sugrīva, Aṅgada, Hanumān and all the other honoured allies stood on either side of the crowned Rāma. They held the royal emblems: chowries, bows and arrows, maces and swords. Divine dundubhis (drums) sounded from svarga. The gandharvas sang. The apsarās danced. Munis, humans, kinnaras, siddhas, the dwellers of all the worlds and those of the higher lokas all brought their homage (johāra) to the king of Sāketa.

Rāma sat with Sītā on the throne. He shone in his nīla-megha-śyāma form (dark as a blue rain cloud). He wore yellow silk and a jewelled crown blazing with gems. His ears were adorned with makara-kuṇḍalas (shark-shaped earrings). His lotus eyes were deep and beautiful, his arms long, his neck like a conch. His form outshone ten million Kāmadevas in beauty. All the worlds saw this divine rūpa (form) and heard his holy history, and felt blessed and freed.

The four Vedas offer a stotra

After the coronation, the four Vedas, Ṛg, Yajur, Sāma and Atharva, came in human form and stood before Bhagavān Rāma. These divine presences bowed to Nārāyaṇa and praised Bhagavān Rāma in a stotra. The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa keeps it in Avadhi-inflected Sanskrit verse:

Tana vishama māyāvaśa surāsura
Nāga nara agama jaga harē।
Bhava paṃtha bhramatā mita divasa
Niśi kāla karma guṇa nibharē।
Jo nātha kari karuṇā vilokahu
Trividha dukhata nirbharē।
Bhava khēda chēdana daksha hama kahum
Raksha Rāma namāmahē॥

The meaning: O Śrī Hari! The whole world, moving and unmoving, with devas, asuras, nāgas and humans, is held by your hard-to-know māyā. It wanders the path of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death), weighed down by the threefold suffering that comes from time, karma and the three guṇas. O Bhagavān Rāma! When your kind glance falls on those who suffer, their threefold pain vanishes at once. You are the one most able to cut away the misery of worldly life. Protect us; we offer you our namaskāra (bow).

The Vedas praised Rāma as the one whose kind glance dissolves the tāpa-traya (threefold suffering), and who is the refuge of all who wander in the forest of saṃsāra. Having praised Bhagavān Rāma, the four Vedas in human form withdrew and went back to Brahmā’s abode.

Śiva’s stotra to Rāma

After the Vedas left, Bhagavān Śiva, the husband of Pārvatī, came forward. He stood before Bhagavān Rāma with folded hands and offered a five-verse stotra with deep devotion.

1. Jaya Rāma ramā ramaṇaṃ samanaṃ
Bhava tāpa bhayākulā pāhi janaṃ।
Avadheśa surēśa ramēśa vibhō
Śaraṇāgata māgata pāhi prabhō॥

2. Dasa sīsa bināsana bīsa bhujā
Kṛta dūri mahā mahi bhūri rujā।
Rajanī cara bṛṃda pataṃga rahē
Nara pāvaka tēja pracaṃḍa dahē॥

3. Mahi maṃḍala maṃḍana cārutaraṃ
Dhṛta nāyaka cāpa vishaṃga baraṃ।
Mada mōha mahā mamatā rajanī
Tama puṃja divā kara tēja anī॥

4. Muni mānasa paṃkaja bhṛṃga bhajē
Raghu bīra mahāraṇa dhīra ajē।
Tava nāma japāmi namāmi harī
Bhavarōga mahāmada māna arī॥

5. Guṇa śīla kṛpā paramāyatanaṃ
Praṇamāmi niraṃtara śrī ramaṇaṃ।
Raghunanda nikandaya dvaṃda ghanaṃ
Mahipāla bilōkaya dīna janaṃ॥

The meaning: O Rāma, beloved of Ramā, you who end suffering and remove the fear of worldly life, protect the afflicted who take shelter in you! O king of Avadha, king of the devas, husband of Ramā, one who comes as a refugee begs your protection. You destroyed the ten-headed one with twenty arms and took away the great burden and disease from this earth. The rākshasas were like moths, and your human fire burned them. You are the matchless ornament of this world, the great hero who bears the bow with its quiver. You are the blazing sun that destroys the darkness of pride, delusion and the great night of possessiveness. You are the bee that drinks from the lotus-minds of the munis. O hero of Raghu’s line, firm in the great battle, unborn, I chant your name and bow to you, O Hari. You are the enemy of the disease of worldly life and of the great drunkenness of pride. You are the supreme home of virtue, good character and grace. I bow always to Śrī Rāma. O joy of Raghu’s line, destroy the thick cloud of dualities. O king of the earth, look on the helpless.

So with deep devotion Bhagavān Śiva praised the king of Sāketa in five verses. After praising him in many more ways, Śiva went back to his own abode, satisfied in heart.

Phalaśruti of the Pattābhisheka

The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa says that whoever hears the account of this auspicious Rāma Pattābhisheka mahotsava (great festival) with deep attention will gain jñāna (knowledge) and vairāgya (freedom from desire). Those who read and recite this holy account, wishing for its spiritual fruits, will enjoy all worldly prosperity and in the end Rāma-sāyujya, union with Bhagavān Rāma.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Śrī Rāma Pattābhisheka
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Veda Stotra at Pattābhisheka
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Śiva Stotra at Pattābhisheka