Padukasahasra 4

We worship the two sandals by which the elder brother of Bharata then / made the journey of departure, as it were, into a return journey.

Abandoning the kingdom of the monarchs of Raghu's line, the citizens who loved his feet, and the devoted earth, / the king of northern Kosala, about to depart, alas, clung first of all to you alone, O foot-protector.

When the hour of departure arrived, O gemmed footwear, seeing the citizens and their pitiable laments, / resonant with melodious sounds, you seemed to beg Rāma to turn back by clasping his feet.

Considering it as a blade of grass, O gemmed footwear, Bharata...

Bharata, deeming as straw that royal capital of the Raghus bereft of Rāma, / affectionately regarded you alone as Ayodhyā, full of triumph, as Avanti, full of great prosperity, and charming.

O gemmed footwear, tested at every step by carrying the all-supporting Rāma, the Supreme Spirit, / Bharata, intending to entrust you with the bearing of the world, begged for you with full confidence, O goddess.

Let that petition to the Lord of the Raghus by the virtuous Bharata arise solely from devotion, O gemmed footwear; / but with what intention, O goddess, did that sage who sees the highest truth speak of you for the welfare of the worlds?

When Rāma had gone to the forest, Daśaratha had fallen asleep, and Bharata was alarmed by the slander of taking the kingdom— / who indeed could have consoled those dwellers of Kosala at that time, if you too, like Sītā, had acted rashly?

O foot-protector, by your glory you are surely superior even to Rāma, the ruler of the three worlds; / if not, how indeed could you have become the pledge and counter-token for Bharata, who longed only for him?

Appointing you, O jewelled footwear, to turn back Bharata who pursued him from behind,
instantly reducing the ocean to a cow’s footprint, Rāma, I consider, conquered the capital of the night-stalkers in an instant.

O foot-protector, able to bear vast multitudes of offenses, you are the earth, indeed forgiveness incarnate;

for it was having abandoned you—forbearance—that those adversaries headed by the ten-necked [Rāvaṇa] were slain by the divine son of Daśaratha.

Even when executing his father's supreme decree, wishing out of longing to fulfill his mother's desire entirely,
the Lord of the Raghus then conferred upon Bharata, O Mother, through you alone, I believe, the splendour of placing a jewelled crown upon his head.

Devoutly placing you, who had slipped from the lotus foot of the Supreme Person, onto his mass of matted hair,
Bharata assumed the splendour of Giriśa whose head is mounted by the Gaṅgā, O jewelled footwear.

With a head made blessed by renouncing the wearing of a jewelled crown, Bharata directly received you,
endowed with divine power by the foot of the Lord of the Raghus, O footwear, to make you fully competent to protect the seven worlds.

Entreated reverently by Bharata: 'She alone is fully capable of ensuring the security and prosperity of the subjects,'
the Lord of the Raghus, mounting [you], consecrated you himself with the cascade of moonlight from the gems of his toenails.

Knowing your grandeur spoken by the son of the creator, as you firmly embrace the beloved lotus foot,
the sages dwelling in the hermitage of Mount Rāma worship you day after day in their fire-sanctuary, O Lord of the Raghus' foot-covering.

He undoubtedly stepped onto you, whose power cannot be imparted [by another], desiring to infuse that power into his own lotus foot;
otherwise, how could Rāma have set you aside and wandered in the Daṇḍaka forest region, whose ground was strewn with stones?

Seeing you, O foot-protector, resting on Bharata's head to be seated on the throne from the lotus foot of the Lord of the Raghus,
the assembled citizens, having their aim of human life fully realized, all spontaneously assumed the duty of panegyrists and bards towards you.

Bharata then made the earth, bounded by the four oceans, devoted to the commands of no other king,
bearing you upon his head like the embodied command of his brother who was about to depart.

Given to his brother Bharata by the Sovereign of Raṅgam having assumed the state of Rāma, decided upon as the ransom for his own feet that ought ever to be worshipped,
and sung by yogins as bearing the welfare of all worlds: may this foot-covering swiftly eradicate my base talk of poverty.

Destroying the misfortune of universal censure, just as for Bharata so for me,
may you, O footwear of the hero of the Raghus, ever sport upon my head, like Śeṣa.

Thus ends the fourth section, the Section on Dedication, in the Thousand Verses on the Sandals of Śrī Raṅganātha composed by the venerable Vedāntācārya, the venerable Veṅkaṭanātha, the Lion among poets and logicians, the master of all systems.

5. Section on the Departure for Return (20)