Dasharatha’s funeral - Chapter 21

 In the previous chapter, we saw the Bharata vow. , Now we'll see Dasharatha’s funeral.

Vashishtha consoled Bharata and asked him to attend to his duties and the first one being the cremation of Dasharatha and he obeyed. Dasharatha’s body was taken from the oil and wiped and placed on the floor (Dasharatha was laid on the floor even though he was the king. Even now in Hindu custom the dead person is laid on the floor).

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His face was yellowish (Valmiki describes very minute details). He looked as if he was sleeping. Bharata broke down. Vashishtha supervised the religious ceremonies. Dasharatha’s body was carried to the banks of river Sarayu and on the way, gold coins were thrown. The pyre was made of special scented woods (Sarala wood, Padmaka wood) and the body was placed on that. The Brahmins chanted the Sama Veda.

It is interesting to point out here that Valmiki uses the word ‘Jaguhu’ for the chanting of Samaveda. This has been translated by some as ‘sang’ and others as ‘chanted’. We know that Sama Veda is sung. Rig and Yajur Vedas are chanted using three notes (one can describe them by, Panchamam, Madhyamam, and Dhaivatam. They used these notes to descend a note and ascend a note around Panchamam). However, Sama Veda needed more notes to sing. If we retain the translation as ‘sang’ for IAGUHU then this would indicate that the basis of Indian music had already been created in those times. It is believed that the seven notes were introduced for this purpose. The octave is mentioned in the Parivrajaka Upanishad dating back to 2 BCE.

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The place was crowded with people of Ayodhya and they all wept aloud. They all then took bath in the river as the Hindu custom still goes in the present times. For ten days Bharata and the queens slept on the floor. The morning ceremony ended on the twelfth day and the whole palace was purified with water accompanied by mantras. Bharata gave away to a lot of charities. On the thirteenth day, Bharata followed by Shatrughna went to the banks of Sarayu where his father had been cremated and cried looking at the bones and ash of his father’s body. They said that without their father and his brother Rama they had no desire to live and would enter the fire and die but not enter Ayodhya. Vashishtha consoled them and advised them that birth and death are for all and there was no exception. He asked them to complete the ceremony and leave for the city.

Shatrughna was very much pained to see Bharata plunged in sorrow. He was so angry with Manthara who was the main cause of all the tragic things that had happened; He searched for her and dragged her to the ground and insulted her. Bharata appeased him and said that their brother Rama would never excuse the one who harassed a woman. He said that he himself restrained from killing his mother only because Rama would have never pardoned him.

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In the next chapter, we'll see Bharata expressing his decision to bring back Rama.

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