Agnipurana 6

English (machine translation) 6

Language: English

6.9 — 4 parts
6.21 — 2 parts
6.32 — 3 parts
6.43 — 4 parts
6.49 — 3 parts

6.1

Nārada said: / When Bharata had departed, Rāma honored his father and others. / King Daśaratha spoke to Rāma: 'Listen, O descendant of Raghu:

6.2

out of love for your virtues, you have been consecrated for the kingdom by the subjects; / in my mind, I bestow the heir-apparency upon you at dawn.

6.3

Spend the night with Sītā in self-restraint and with good votive observances.' / And the king's eight ministers, along with Vasiṣṭha, spoke thus:

6.4

Sṛṣṭi, Jayanta, Vijaya, Siddhārtha, Rāṣṭravardhana, / Aśoka, Dharmapāla, and Sumantra, together with Vasiṣṭha.

6.5

Having heard the words of his father and others, the descendant of Raghu said, 'So be it'; / he remained there having performed worship of the gods, and informed Kauśalyā of it.

6.6

The king said to Vasiṣṭha and the others: 'Let the provisions / for Rāma's royal consecration be gathered'; having said this, he went to Kaikeyī.

6.7

Seeing the decorations of Ayodhyā and knowing that Rāma's consecration / was about to take place, the female companion Mantharā reported it to Kaikeyī.

6.8

She had once been dragged by the feet by Rāma for a fault; / out of that enmity, she desired forest-exile for Rāma.

6.9

'Kaikeyī, arise! Rāma's consecration to the kingdom / means the death of your son, and of me; there is no doubt about this.'

6.9.p2

1. 'rājyavardhanaḥ' is the reading in the three manuscripts marked kha, ga, and gha.

6.9.p3

2. 'sumantraś ca vasiṣṭhakaḥ' is the reading in the four manuscripts marked kha, ga, gha, and ṅa.

6.9.p4

3. 'mantharāsatī' is the reading in the two manuscripts marked kha and ṅa; 'mantharā satīm' in the manuscript marked ga.

6.10

Hearing what was spoken by the hunchbacked woman, she gave her an ornament / and said: 'As Rāma is to me, so is my son Bharata;

6.11

yet I see no means by which Bharata may obtain the kingdom.' / Thereupon Mantharā, enraged, cast aside the necklace and said to Kaikeyī:

6.12

"Foolish woman, protect Bharata, yourself, and me from Rāghava! / Rāghava will become king, and after Rāghava, his son.

6.13

The royal lineage, O Kaikeyī, will be lost to Bharata. / Formerly, in the war between gods and asuras, the gods were slain by Śambara.

6.14

Your husband went there at night, and he was protected by you with [your] mystic knowledge. / He then gave you two boons; now ask the king for those:

6.15

forest-dwelling for Rāma for nine years and five, / and the status of crown prince for Bharata—that he will grant now."

6.16

Instigated by the hunchback woman, seeing benefit in disaster, / she said: "Will [the king] carry out that good stratagem of mine?"

6.17

Then, having entered the chamber of anger, she fell unconscious to the ground. / Then, after honoring the twice-born and others, King Daśaratha

6.18

saw Kaikeyī enraged and said: "How are you like this? / Are you afflicted by illness? Are you agitated by fear? What do you wish? I shall do it.

6.19

For without Rāma I do not live even for a moment; / by him I swear: I will indeed do what you desire, O lovely woman!"

6.20

She said to the king: "Speak the truth; if you give them to me, / then out of truthfulness, O king, grant me the two boons previously given:

6.21

Let Rāma dwell self-restrained in the forest for fourteen years;

6.21.p2

1. "kathitam" is the reading in the two manuscripts marked kha and ṅa.
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6.21_2

with these very preparations, let Bharata be consecrated here this very day.

6.22

I will drink poison and die if you do not grant them, O king!" / Hearing that, he fainted and fell to the ground as if struck by a thunderbolt.

6.23

Regaining consciousness after a moment, he said this to Kaikeyī: / "What has been done to you by Rāma or by me, you of evil resolve,

6.24

that you speak to me thus, you bringer of displeasure to the whole world? / Merely doing your bidding, I shall become deeply reviled.

6.25

You who are my wife are the Night of Doom, [and] Bharata is not such a son. / Rule the kingdom as a widow when I am dead and my son is gone!"

6.26

Bound by the snare of truth, however, he summoned Rāma and said: / "I have been deceived by Kaikeyī, O Rāma; restrain me and take the kingdom!

6.27

You must live in the forest, [and] Kaikeyī's Bharata is the king." / Having bowed to his father and Kaikeyī, and circumambulating them,

6.28

having bowed to Kauśalyā and comforted her, accompanied by Lakṣmaṇa, / with Sītā his wife, with his chariot, and with Sumantra,

6.29

having given gifts to the brahmins, and to the poor and helpless, / he departed from the city [accompanied] by his mothers and by the brahmins and others stricken with grief.

6.30

Having stayed the night on the bank of the Tamasā, he left the citizens behind; / at daybreak, not seeing him, they returned to Ayodhyā.

6.31

The weeping king also went to Kauśalyā's house, exceedingly sorrowful; / the townsfolk, all the women, and the royal wives wept.

6.32

Rāma, mounted on his chariot and dressed in bark garments, went to Śṛṅgaverapura; / honored there by Guha, he rested at the foot of an iṅgudī tree.

6.32.p2

1. "na tvaṃ bhāryā" is the reading in the three manuscripts marked ga, gha, and cha.

6.32.p3

2. "saṃśritaḥ" is the reading in the two manuscripts marked ga and gha.
[Page 14]

6.33

Lakṣmaṇa and Guha kept vigil that night; / leaving Sumantra with the chariot, in the morning [Rāma crossed] the Jāhnavī by boat.

6.34

Having crossed, Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, and Sītā reached Prayāga; / having bowed to Bharadvāja, they went to Mount Citrakūṭa.

6.35

Then, having performed the site architecture worship, they stayed on the bank of the Mandākinī; / and Rāghava showed Citrakūṭa to Sītā.

6.36

To a crow that tore her with its claws, he struck out its eye; / by the reed-missile, [though] it took refuge in heaven with the gods, [it was pursued].

6.37

When Rāma had gone to the forest, the king on the sixth night told Kauśalyā / an old story of how, out of ignorance, he had killed [an ascetic boy] long ago:

6.38

in his youth, on the bank of the Sarayū, the youth Yajñadatta / was making a sound with a pitcher, and by sound-aiming [Daśaratha shot him]; and his father,

6.39

lamenting, grieving with the mother and weeping repeatedly, cursed [him]: / "Bereft of our son, we two will die; and you also shall die of grief!

6.40

O Kauśalyā, remembering [him] without my son, my death [comes] from grief." / Having spoken this tale and cried out: "Ah, Rāma!", the king departed to heaven.

6.41

Kauśalyā, thinking he was merely sleeping, fell asleep, stricken with grief; / at dawn, the singers, bards, chroniclers, and eulogists,

6.42

the wakers, awakened him, but he, being dead, did not awaken; / Kauśalyā, realizing that he was dead, said: "Alas, I am ruined!"

6.43

Then men and women wept; Bharata, accompanied by Śatrughna, / was then brought quickly to the city from Rājagṛha by Vasiṣṭha and others.

6.43.p2

1. "pūrvām" is the reading in the two manuscripts marked ga and ṅa.

6.43.p3

2. "nṛpa" is the reading in the manuscript marked ṅa.

6.43.p4

3. "cāpatat" is the reading in the manuscript marked ṅa.
[Page 15]

6.44

Seeing Kaikeyī full of sorrow, he censured her in his grief: / "Infamy has been brought upon my head!"; and having praised Kauśalyā,

6.45

having cremated his father, who had been placed in an oil vat, on the bank of the Sarayū, / when told by Vasiṣṭha and the others: "Rule the kingdom!", he said:

6.46

"I go to bring back Rāma; mighty Rāma is regarded as the king." / [Passing through] Śṛṅgavera and Prayāga, he was fed by Bharadvāja.

6.47

Bowing to Bharadvāja, he came to Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa: / "Our father has gone to heaven, O Rāma; become the king in Ayodhyā!

6.48

I shall go to the forest, awaiting your command." / Rāma, having heard, offered water [libations] and [said]: "Go, taking the sandals.

Because of truthfulness, wearing bark and matted hair, I will not go to the kingdom." / Addressed by Rāma, mighty Bharata returned and stayed at Nandigrāma; / leaving Ayodhyā, he protected the kingdom, venerating those sandals.

6.49.p1

Thus ends the sixth chapter, named 'Description of the Ayodhyākāṇḍa', in the Rāmāyaṇa in the Great Agni Purāṇa.

6.49.p3

Now the seventh chapter:

6.49.p4

Description of the Rāmāyaṇa.

Other recensions (1)

Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit

Agnipurana 6

Contents

Other recensions (1)

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