The Barefoot Path Burns within Bharata
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 262
Doha 262 · Movement 1 of 2
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Bharata names each wound before the assembly. Dasharatha died preserving his vow of love. His mother's counsel became the root from which calamity spread through palace and city. The mothers cannot bear the sight, and the people of Ayodhya burn in a grief that gives them no rest.
Then the road to the forest rises before his inward eye. Rama departed clothed as a sage, with Sita and Lakshmana beside him. Their royal feet touched the naked earth without sandals. Bharata calls Shiva to witness that this knowledge has remained lodged in him like a wound from the hour he heard it.
At Shringaverapura he saw the Nishada chief's selfless devotion, yet his heart, hard as a thunderbolt, did not break. Now the forest itself seems more tender than he is. Living creatures overflow with sympathy, and even serpents and scorpions abandon their fierce poison upon the path where Sita, Rama, and Lakshmana move. Bharata stands among them, astonished that he still lives.
The dust beneath Rama's bare feet becomes a burning path through Bharata's heart, while even the forest creatures soften in compassion.
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भूपति मरन पेम पनु राखी। जननी कुमति जगतु सबु साखी।। देखि न जाहि बिकल महतारी। जरहिं दुसह जर पुर नर नारी।। महीं सकल अनरथ कर मूला। सो सुनि समुझि सहिउँ सब सूला।। सुनि बन गवनु कीन्ह रघुनाथा। करि मुनि बेष लखन सिय साथा।। बिनु पानहिन्ह पयादेहि पाएँ। संकरु साखि रहेउँ एहि घाएँ।। बहुरि निहार निषाद सनेहू। कुलिस कठिन उर भयउ न बेहू।। अब सबु आँखिन्ह देखेउँ आई। जिअत जीव जड़ सबइ सहाई।। जिन्हहि निरखि मग साँपिनि बीछी। तजहिं बिषम बिषु तामस तीछी।।
The king died keeping his sacred vow of love, while my mother's ill counsel stands witnessed by all the world. The grieving mother herself cannot bear to look upon this scene. The men and women of the city burn with sorrow too fierce to endure. She became the root of every calamity on this earth. Hearing and understanding all this, I have borne every torment. When I learned that Raghunatha had departed for the forest in the garb of a muni, with Lakshmana and Sita at his side, walking barefoot on the bare ground, without even sandals. Shankara is my witness: I have lived with this wound ever since. Then I beheld the Nishad chief's selfless love, yet even then my heart, hard as vajra, did not shatter. Now I have come and seen everything with my own eyes. Every living being, even the simplest creature, overflows with compassion. In whose presence even serpents and scorpions along the path abandon their fierce, dark poison.