The Gomatī is a river in the region of Kosala. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa names it in the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa as one of the rivers that Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa crossed on their way south from Ayodhyā toward the Gaṅgā, in the early days of their exile. It flowed through the Kosala heartland, the land that the people of Ayodhyā knew well. Many of them had followed Rāma’s chariot on foot.

In the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa

Before dawn, Rāma’s chariot slipped away from the sleeping people of Ayodhyā at the Tamasā river. Sumantra then drove the chariot on, further south through the lands of Kosala. The Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa tells of the crossing of the Gomatī river, and then of the Sāṇḍikā river, as the exiles travelled through the familiar land of Kosala toward the Gaṅgā.

They passed through villages. The people there knew Rāma, spoke hard words about Daśaratha and Kaikeyī, and showed their grief at the exile. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 49–50)

A river of Kosala

The Gomatī is held sacred in the tradition and is linked with the Kosala region and with tīrthas (holy places) along its banks. Its crossing marked the passage of the exiles through the heart of the Ikshvāku kingdom, on their way out of it.

Sources

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 49–50