# Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 71 — Daśaratha’s remaining rites *Bharata performs śrāddha and distributes gifts, the brothers grieve over the ashes and bones, Vasiṣṭha & Sumantra help them complete their duties* Portion: Daśaratha’s funeral and Mantharā’s punishment · Verses: 25 · Ref format: 2.71. ## Sequence - After the mourning period, Bharata performs the twelfth-day śrāddha (ancestral rite) and gives food, wealth, cattle, and other gifts in his father's memory (71.1–3) - on the thirteenth morning he returns to the pyre and laments that both his father and the brother entrusted with his care are gone (71.4–7) - the sight of ashes and bones overwhelms him (71.8–10) - Śatrughna also collapses, recalling Daśaratha's affection and blaming the crisis that began with Mantharā (71.11–16) - he says he cannot bear returning to an empty Ayodhyā (71.17–20) - Vasiṣṭha raises and comforts Bharata, while Sumantra does the same for Śatrughna → reminded that death is unavoidable, they recover enough to complete the remaining duties (71.21–25). ## Verses **2.71.1** tato daśāhe 'tigate kṛtaśauco nṛpātmajaḥ dvādaśe 'hani saṃprāpte śrāddhakarmāṇy akārayat Then, when the ten days had passed, the king's son, having performed the purification, when the twelfth day arrived, had the śrāddha rites performed. **2.71.2** brāhmaṇebhyo dadau ratnaṃ dhanam annaṃ ca puṣkalam bāstikaṃ bahuśuklaṃ ca gāś cāpi śataśas tathā He gave to the brahmins jewels, wealth, and abundant food, goods of goat's-hair and much silver, and cows too by the hundreds. **2.71.3** dāsīdāsaṃ ca yānaṃ ca veśmāni sumahānti ca brāhmaṇebhyo dadau putro rājñas tasyaurdhvadaihikam Female and male slaves, carriages, and very great houses — these the son gave to the brahmins as the funerary offering for the king. **2.71.4** tataḥ prabhātasamaye divase 'tha trayodaśe vilalāpa mahābāhur bharataḥ śokamūrchitaḥ Then at daybreak, on the thirteenth day, the mighty-armed Bharata, stupefied with grief, lamented. **2.71.5** śabdāpihitakaṇṭhaś ca śodhanārtham upāgataḥ citāmūle pitur vākyam idam āha suduḥkhitaḥ His throat choked by his sobbing, having come for the purification, deeply grieved, at the foot of the pyre he spoke these words concerning his father: **2.71.6** tāta yasmin niṣṛṣṭo 'haṃ tvayā bhrātari rāghave tasmin vanaṃ pravrajite śūnye tyakto 'smy ahaṃ tvayā Father, the brother Rāghava in whose charge I was placed by you — now that he has gone forth to the forest, I am left abandoned by you in this desolation. **2.71.7** yathāgatir anāthāyāḥ putraḥ pravrājito vanam tām ambāṃ tāta kausalyāṃ tyaktvā tvaṃ kva gato nṛpa That mother Kausalyā, now helpless, whose only recourse — her son — has been banished to the forest: having forsaken her, O father, O king, where have you gone? **2.71.8** dṛṣṭvā bhasmāruṇaṃ tac ca dagdhāsthisthānamaṇḍalam pituḥ śarīra nirvāṇaṃ niṣṭanan viṣasāda ha And seeing that circle of ground grey-red with ashes and strewn with burnt bones — the extinction of his father's body — he groaned and sank down in despair. **2.71.9** sa tu dṛṣṭvā rudan dīnaḥ papāta dharaṇītale utthāpyamānaḥ śakrasya yantra dhvaja iva cyutaḥ And seeing it, weeping and wretched, he fell to the ground; though being raised up, he collapsed like Śakra's mechanical banner-pole let fall. **2.71.10** abhipetus tataḥ sarve tasyāmātyāḥ śucivratam antakāle nipatitaṃ yayātim ṛṣayo yathā Then all his ministers rushed up to him of pure vows as he lay fallen, just as the seers came to Yayāti fallen at his life's end. **2.71.11** śatrughnaś cāpi bharataṃ dṛṣṭvā śokapariplutam visaṃjño nyapatad bhūmau bhūmipālam anusmaran And Śatrughna too, seeing Bharata drowned in grief, fell senseless to the ground, remembering the king their father. **2.71.12** unmatta iva niścetā vilalāpa suduḥkhitaḥ smṛtvā pitur guṇāṅgāni tāni tāni tadā tadā Like one gone mad and out of his senses, deeply grieved, he lamented, recalling again and again those many virtues of his father. **2.71.13** mantharā prabhavas tīvraḥ kaikeyīgrāhasaṃkulaḥ varadānamayo 'kṣobhyo 'majjayac chokasāgaraḥ The ocean of grief — originating from Mantharā, fierce, teeming with the crocodile Kaikeyī, made up of the granting of the boon, unfathomable — has drowned us. **2.71.14** sukumāraṃ ca bālaṃ ca satataṃ lālitaṃ tvayā kva tāta bharataṃ hitvā vilapantaṃ gato bhavān Forsaking Bharata — so tender and young, ever cherished by you — now lamenting, where, O father, have you gone? **2.71.15** nanu bhojyeṣu pāneṣu vastreṣv ābharaṇeṣu ca pravārayasi naḥ sarvāṃs tan naḥ ko 'dya kariṣyati Surely in food, drink, garments and ornaments you used to indulge us all — who now will do that for us? **2.71.16** avadāraṇa kāle tu pṛthivī nāvadīryate vihīnā yā tvayā rājñā dharmajñena mahātmanā Though the time for splitting has come, the earth does not split open — she who has been bereft of you, the king, knower of dharma, great of soul. **2.71.17** pitari svargam āpanne rāme cāraṇyam āśrite kiṃ me jīvita sāmarthyaṃ pravekṣyāmi hutāśanam With my father gone to heaven and Rāma taken to the forest, what power to live have I? I shall enter the fire. **2.71.18** hīno bhrātrā ca pitrā ca śūnyām ikṣvākupālitām ayodhyāṃ na pravekṣyāmi pravekṣyāmi tapovanam Deprived of both brother and father, I will not enter empty Ayodhyā, guarded once by the Ikṣvākus; I will enter the forest of penance. **2.71.19** tayor vilapitaṃ śrutvā vyasanaṃ cānvavekṣya tat bhṛśam ārtatarā bhūyaḥ sarva evānugāminaḥ Hearing the lament of the two and beholding that calamity, all the attendants became yet more grievously afflicted. **2.71.20** tato viṣaṇṇau śrāntau ca śatrughna bharatāv ubhau dharaṇyāṃ saṃvyaceṣṭetāṃ bhagnaśṛṅgāv ivarṣabhau Then both Śatrughna and Bharata, dejected and exhausted, writhed on the ground like two bulls with broken horns. **2.71.21** tataḥ prakṛtimān vaidyaḥ pitur eṣāṃ purohitaḥ vasiṣṭho bharataṃ vākyam utthāpya tam uvāca ha Then Vasiṣṭha, self-possessed and learned, the family priest of their father, having raised Bharata up, spoke these words to him: **2.71.22** trīṇi dvandvāni bhūteṣu pravṛttāny aviśeṣataḥ teṣu cāparihāryeṣu naivaṃ bhavitum arhati Three pairs of opposites operate among all beings without distinction; and since these are unavoidable, one ought not to behave thus. **2.71.23** sumantraś cāpi śatrughnam utthāpyābhiprasādya ca śrāvayām āsa tattvajñaḥ sarvabhūtabhavābhavau And Sumantra too, raising Śatrughna up and consoling him, that knower of truth, made him hear of the coming-to-be and passing-away of all creatures. **2.71.24** utthitau tau naravyāghrau prakāśete yaśasvinau varṣātapapariklinnau pṛthag indradhvajāv iva Risen up, those two tigers among men, illustrious, shone like two separate banners of Indra drenched by rain and sun. **2.71.25** aśrūṇi parimṛdnantau raktākṣau dīnabhāṣiṇau amātyās tvarayanti sma tanayau cāparāḥ kriyāḥ The two princes, wiping away their tears, red-eyed, speaking piteously — the ministers urged them on, and the remaining rites as well.