Bharata

Bharata (भरत) is the son of King Dasharatha and Queen Kaikeyi and the brother of Rama. Though his own mother won the throne for him, he refused to take it, and ruled Ayodhya for fourteen years only as Rama’s servant, with Rama’s sandals on the throne. For many readers he is the epic’s purest example of selfless love.

The throne he refused

When Kaikeyi, at Manthara’s urging, used her two boons to have Bharata crowned and Rama exiled, Bharata was away at his grandfather’s kingdom of Kekaya. He returned to find his father dead and his brother gone, and turned on his mother in anger and grief. He refused the crown and set out with the army, the queens and the people to bring Rama back.

The meeting at Chitrakoot

At Chitrakoot Bharata begged Rama to return. Rama, bound by their father’s promise, would not. Bharata then asked for his sandals, the paduka, and declared that they would rule in Rama’s place. He also vowed that if Rama did not return on the very day the fourteen years ended, he would enter fire. The meeting of the brothers is re-enacted every year in the Bharat Milap of Varanasi and other towns after Dussehra.

Fourteen years at Nandigram

Bharata did not live in the palace. He settled at Nandigram outside Ayodhya, wore bark garments and matted hair like Rama, and governed in the name of the sandals. When Hanuman arrived ahead of Rama with news of his return, Bharata’s joy was so great that the Ramcharitmanas makes the reunion one of its most moving scenes.

Family

Bharata’s wife was Mandavi, a cousin of Sita. His sons Taksha and Pushkala are said to have founded the cities of Takshashila (Taxila) and Pushkalavati in the northwest.