66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

lackest sins for which people were committed to hell.
Vasishtha arrived. Bharatha asked, “Where is my father?”
He was taken to where the King’s body was kept.
Vasishtha said, “It is time to go through the funeral rites.”
When Bharatha was ready for the ceremonies, Dasaratha’s
body was carried in a procession on elephant back to the
accompaniment of mournful drums and trumpets, to the bank
of the Sarayu River, where a funeral pyre had been erected.
Dasaratha’s body was laid on it with elaborate prayers and
rituals. When the time came to light the pyre, Bharatha
approached it with a flame in his hand; suddenly, at the last
moment, Vasishtha stopped him, remembering Dasaratha’s
last injunction disowning Kaikeyi and her son. He explained
it delicately and with profound sorrow: “The most painful duty
that the gods have left me to perform.”
Bharatha understood. He withdrew, leaving his brother
Sathrugna to continue the performance, with the bitter
reflection, “This again my mother’s gift to me, not even to be
able to touch my father’s funeral pyre!”
At the end of the day, Bharatha retired to his palace and
shut himself in. After five days of mourning, the ministers and
Vasishtha conferred, approached Bharatha, and requested
him to become their King, as the country needed a ruler.
Bharatha refused the suggestion and announced, “I am
determined to seek Rama and beg him to return.” He
ordered that all citizens and the army should be ready to