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Continued from yesterday’s instalment
 We will come back to Guha in a short while. Let’s fast forward and move a few scenes ahead and witness the meeting of sage Bharadwäja and Bharata. This meeting takes place, as we mentioned earlier, after Bharata is ferried across the Ganges and reaches Dandaka-aranya. Sage Bharadwaja had his hermitage there, in the vicinity of the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna. It was on his advice that Sri Rama set for Citrakuta, a jungle that was 60 miles deeper from Dandaka. Experts differ on this. The author of the commentary known as ‘Ramayana Siromani’ says that the distance of Citrakuta from Prayaga is reckoned as 26 Kosas or 56 miles and the distance has been approximated to interpret it as 60 miles in the following Sloka -
“Sixty miles from this place, O dear son, lies a sacred mountain, on which you will take up your abode, which is inhabited by great Rsis and is charming to look at has a number of offshoots.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, Canto LIV, Sloka 28)
The point is, Citrakuta was a deeper and denser jungle, after crossing Dandaka-aranya. Bharata reached there, stationed his army and people some two miles away from the hermitage of Bharadwaja, along with Vasistha, Satrughna, Kausalya, Sumitra, Kaikeyi and a few others. It was the sage, and only he, knew where Rama could be seen. Bharata depended on him for information on Rama.
The sage, with his wisdom and the inner eye, knew the purpose of the arrival of Bharata, without the latter having to mention about it. In fact, when Rama arrived, the sage who was living in such a dense forest tells him, “In fact I have since long been expecting your arrival, O scion of Kakutstha! And your gratuitous exile has also been heard of by me.” (Ibid, Sloka 21) They had their own ways of getting information and a better informant, their razor sharp sixth sense.
 The all-knowing sage, however, chose to play the part of an innocent and curious layman. “What motive could you have in coming (all the way) to this place, busy as you must have been ruling the kingdom (of Ayodhya)? (Please) tell me all this; for my mind is not getting cleared of doubts (about your intentions towards Sri Rama). Seeking to enjoy the kingdom (rightfully) belonging to Sri Rama without any thorn (in your side),
I hope, you do not intend to do (any bodily) harm in this forest to Lakshmana (his younger brother) and the highly illustrious prince Sri Rama (Himself) the destroyer of enemies and the promoter of joy in this world………” (Ibid, Canto XC 9-13{part})
Imagine the force with which these words would have hit poor Bharata! Here is a prince who refrained from killing his own mother - Kaikeyi - because of the double offence of having sent Rama to the jungle and causing the death of his father, just because he was afraid of Rama’s censure and there sits the sage who flicks such a question loaded with the sharpest of phrases, as if he knew nothing of the motives behind the visit of Bharata.
The words of the sage, though not so harsh, are forceful yet, in Kamban as well.
More follows...
Hari Krishnan
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