Passage 27

Bharatha, the ideal brother

Bharatha then rushed to the mansion of mother Kausalya. There, Kausalya related to him the chain of events that led to the departure of Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita from Ayodhya. Bharatha’s sorrow at the death of his father receded into the background when he heard the more sorrowful news of the departure of Rama from Ayodhya. His grief at the death of his father turned into fury when he heard that it was his father who had commanded Rama to leave Ayodhya. Flushed with anger and fury, he refused to perform the obituary rites to his father and decided to go to the forest to bring Rama back to Ayodhya. But Sage Vasishta pacified him and convinced him that it was his duty to perform the last rites of his father. Eventually Bharatha performed the last rites to the body, which had been preserved in oil for fifteen days.