Kausalya Mourns Rama's Banishment

Kausalya's heart-wrenching lament to King Dasharatha after Rama's exile. Her anguish, anger at Kaikeyi, and longing for Rama's return paint a poignant picture of maternal love and loss. 

Kausalya Addresses King Dasharatha (2.43.1 - 2.43.3)

Kausalya (King Dasharatha's chief queen), overwhelmed with grief due to her son's departure, looked at King Dasharatha. He lay exhausted on the couch, consumed by sorrow. She spoke to him, saying:

"Kaikeyi (Dasharatha's youngest queen), moving deceitfully like a serpent, has injected her venom into Rama, the best among men. Now she will roam freely, like a snake that has shed its skin. Having banished Rama, Kaikeyi is now content with her desires fulfilled. She will torment me again and again, like a vicious serpent living in our house."

Kausalya's Regret and Anger (2.43.4 - 2.43.7)

Kausalya continued, her voice filled with regret and anger:

"It would have been better had I offered my son as a slave to Kaikeyi. At least then, he would have lived in the house, performing his duties and begging for food in the city. You have cast Rama aside according to Kaikeyi's whims, like sacrificers offering the gods' share to demons on new moon days.

My mighty-armed son, a great archer and hero, Rama, whose gait resembles that of a majestic elephant, must now be entering the forest with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana. What will become of them in the forest? They who have never known suffering, now abandoned to forest-dwelling at Kaikeyi's behest and your command."

Kausalya's Sorrow for Rama's Hardships (2.43.8 - 2.43.12)

Kausalya's lament grew more intense as she imagined the hardships awaiting Rama:

"How will these young people, deprived of luxuries and exiled at the prime of their youth, survive on mere fruits and roots? Will there ever come an auspicious moment to end my sorrow? When will I see Rama here again with his wife and brother?

When will the famous city of Ayodhya (the capital of Kosala kingdom) be filled with joy again? When will its people rejoice and adorn it with uplifted banners upon hearing of the brave brothers' return? When will the city celebrate their homecoming like the sea swelling on a full moon day?

When will my mighty-armed hero, Rama, enter Ayodhya with Sita seated before him in the chariot, like a bull following a cow?"

Kausalya's Vision of Rama's Return (2.43.13 - 2.43.16)

Kausalya then envisioned the grand welcome that awaited Rama's return:

• When will thousands of people shower parched grain on the royal highway as my sons, the subduers of enemies, enter the city?

• When will I see them both, wearing auspicious earrings and holding powerful weapons and swords high, like two mountain peaks?

• When will I see them delightfully moving around the city, with young Brahmin girls offering them flowers and fruits?

• When will Rama, possessing the luster of the gods and fully mature in wisdom and age, come back to me playfully like a three-year-old boy?

Kausalya's Self-Reproach and Despair (2.43.17 - 2.43.21)

Finally, Kausalya turned to self-reproach and expressed her despair:

"O valiant one, in my previous life, I must have cruelly separated calves from their mothers' udders when they were thirsting for milk. Now I, like a cow separated from its calf by a lion, have been forcibly parted from my affectionate son by Kaikeyi.

I cannot live without my only son, who is adept in all scriptures and endowed with all virtues. Without seeing my beloved son, long-armed and mighty, I have little strength to live in this world. This fire of grief, born from separation from my son, consumes me like the scorching summer sun burning the earth with its oppressive rays."

This concludes the forty third chapter (sarga) of Ayodhyakanda, the second book of the Ramayana, the great epic composed by the sage Valmiki.