RAMA-PADUKAS Ruled Ayodhya!

At Chitrakoot, Bharata beseeched Rama to return to Ayodhya and be king. Rama declined, but upon Bharata’s request he blessed a pair of padukas (wooden sandals) embellished with gold which Bharata kept on his head, carried it to Nandigram, built a parna kutir, a small hut of grass and twigs, and installed the padukas on the throne.

For fourteen years of Rama’s exile in the forest, Ayodhya, the most prosperous kingdom on earth which rivalled Indra’s Amaravati in grandeur, was ruled by Rama-Padukas, with Bharata as Rama’s humble servant devoutly executing Rama’s orders delivered through his padukas.[i]

Bharata was never king of Ayodhya, but he dutifully looked after the kingdom as a sacred trust assigned to him by Rama for people’s yoga-kshema,[ii] wellbeing and prosperity. Ramayana presents Rama-Padukas as a potent, unforgettable symbol of righteous, unostentatious rule. Bharata demonstrated that Ayodhya could indeed be ruled, not from its majestic palace and the golden throne, but from the humble parna kutir at Nandigram, a tiny village where he lived like a hermit,[iii] wearing bark, with matted hair, sleeping on the floor on a bed of kusha grass, and eating only fruits and roots when he was not fasting![iv]

Even Kubera envied Ayodhya’s wealth, yet Bharata abjured fine livery, royal cuisine, and all other luxuries, and lived indifferently like a bee in a Champaka garden which never sucks the Champaka flower despite its alluring sweet fragrance.

(Image Source: Wikicommons)

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[i] ततस्तु भरतः श्रीमानभिषिच्यार्यपादुके || २-११५-२६

तदधीनस्तदा राज्यम् कारयामास सर्वदा |

Coronating the wooden sandals of his elder brother, the illustrious Bharata thereafter carried out his duties for the kingdom, always maintaining his subservience to them.

 

[ii] एतद् राज्यम् मम भ्रात्रा दत्तम् सम्न्यासवत् स्वयम् |

योग क्षेम वहे च इमे पादुके हेम भूषिते || २-११५-१४

My brother, Rama has given to me this kingdom as a trust. These sandals, embellished with gold will guide me to ensure prosperity and wellbeing of the people.

 

[iii] स वल्कलजटाधारी मुनिवेषधरः प्रभुः | २-११५-२३

(Bharata) assuming bark robes and matted locks like an ascetic ….

 

[iv] नंदिगावँ करि परन कुटीरा। कीन्ह निवासु धरम धुर धीरा।।

जटाजूट सिर मुनिपट धारी। महि खनि कुस साँथरी सँवारी।।

असन बसन बासन ब्रत नेमा। करत कठिन रिषिधरम सप्रेमा।।

भूषन बसन भोग सुख भूरी। मन तन बचन तजे तिन तूरी।। (Ramacharitmanas, 2.324)