Ram Leaves for the Forest

Ram went to take leave of his mother Kaushalya. She fainted at the news. She said, ‘If your father has commanded you, a mother's command is greater. Do not go.’ But Ram lovingly explained that making his father's word false would not be dharma. At last, in tears, she gave him her blessing.

Lakshman was burning with anger, but Ram calmed him. Then Lakshman said, ‘Where you go, I go. I will not stay in Ayodhya without you.’ His mother Sumitra did not stop him. She blessed him and told him to treat Ram as his father and Sita as his mother. Lakshman's wife Urmila quietly accepted this great sacrifice too.

Ram asked Sita to stay in the palace, because the forest was full of thorns, wild animals and hardship. But Sita said, ‘A wife's place is with her husband. With you, the forest is my palace; without you, even a palace is a wilderness.’ Seeing her firm resolve, Ram agreed.

The three took off their royal clothes and put on valkal, garments of tree bark. Dashrath said farewell in tears. Sumantra drove the chariot, and all of Ayodhya ran weeping behind it. The first night was spent on the bank of the Tamasa river. The people had followed them. Ram did not want them to abandon their homes, so before dawn he quietly moved on.

The chariot reached Shringverpur on the bank of the Ganga. There Guha, king of the Nishad people and Ram's friend, came to meet him with love. Guha offered his kingdom and every comfort, but Ram said that one living in exile should not use them. That night Ram and Sita rested on a bed of grass, while Lakshman and Guha kept watch until morning.