Ram Bathes in the River Dark as His Body
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 109
Doha 109 · Movement 2 of 2
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At the Yamuna, the service of Bharadvaja's students reaches its end. Ram thanks them with gentle courtesy and sends them back, their cherished desire fulfilled by the miles walked in his company.
The travellers descend toward the river. Yamuna's waters spread dark and gleaming before them, bearing the same deep hue that shines in Ram's form. River and Lord seem to recognize one another through color.
Ram enters and bathes. Ripples move outward from the body whose beauty the current resembles, while the young guides begin their return to the hermitage. The sacred landscape does not merely surround the journey. At every crossing it mirrors something of the one who walks through it.
In Yamuna's dark water, Ram enters a flowing reflection of his own rain cloud radiance.
Read the passage from the Manas
बिदा किए बटु बिनय करि फिरे पाइ मन काम। उतरि नहाए जमुन जल जो सरीर सम स्याम।।109।।
With humble courtesy Rama bade the batus farewell; they returned, their hearts' desire fulfilled. Descending to the Yamuna, he bathed in her waters, dark as his own divine form.