The Exile of Rama

The eve of the coronation

All Ayodhya was garlanded for the coronation of Rama as crown prince. King Dasharatha, old and joyful, could not wait to see his beloved eldest son on the throne. But that very night the kingdom’s joy turned to ruin — the beginning of the long trial at the heart of the Ramayana.

Manthara’s poison

The hunchbacked maid Manthara whispered to Queen Kaikeyi that once Rama was king, she and her son Bharata would be left with nothing. Fear took root. Kaikeyi remembered the two boons Dasharatha had once granted her for saving his life in battle, and went to her chamber of anger to claim them.

The two boons

When Dasharatha came to her, Kaikeyi demanded: that Bharata be crowned king, and that Rama be banished to the forest for fourteen years, dressed as an ascetic. The king was shattered; he begged, wept, and fainted — but a king’s word is dharma, and he could not refuse. It was Rama himself who steadied everyone, accepting the exile calmly so his father need not break his promise.

Into the forest

Rama gave away his wealth, put on bark garments, and set out. Sita refused to stay behind: a wife’s place was with her husband. Lakshmana would not be parted from his brother. The three left Ayodhya as the whole city wept and followed them to the river’s edge. Dasharatha, unable to bear the separation, died of grief within days, calling Rama’s name.

The meaning

The exile is the great hinge of the Ramayana. Rama’s serene acceptance — choosing his father’s honour and dharma over a throne that was rightfully his — is the model of maryada, righteous conduct, for which he is called Maryada Purushottam, the perfect man. The forest years that follow will carry him to the war with Ravana and the fulfilment of his purpose.