Itihāsa / Rāmāyaṇa chronicle / Ayodhyā · 14 of 50
14. Leaving the city
Ayodhyā (अयोध्या)
They leave in the chariot Sumantra drives, and the city follows, and Rāma cannot bear the following. He leaves in the night, by a route the crowd will not take, which is an act of love and an act of flight. At the river they meet Guha, the Niṣāda king, a friend of Rāma's from a life the court does not quite count. Guha offers his place, his food, his loyalty. Rāma takes the loyalty and not the luxury. He, Sītā, and Lakṣmaṇa cross. Sumantra is sent back with the chariot, and the sending back is the cut. The city no longer has a direction to follow.
They go to Bharadvāja's hermitage, and then to Citrakūṭa, and Lakṣmaṇa builds the hut, and a life begins that is almost peaceful. The mountain is beautiful. Sītā points at birds. The poem gives them this, briefly, so that the exile is not only a punishment. It is a form of life. It could be lived. That is what Bharata will see when he arrives, and it will not make him feel better.
Behind them the chariot reaches Ayodhyā without the three. Kausalyā and the king receive an empty car. The garlands are still up.
नेपालीमा
सुमन्त्रले हाँकेको रथमा उनीहरू निस्के। सहर पछि लाग्यो, र रामले त्यो सहन सक्नुभएन। राम रातमा निस्कनुभयो, भीड नआउने बाटोबाट। नदीमा निषादराज गुहले स्वागत गरे। रामले विलास लिनुभएन, निष्ठा लिनुभयो। तीन जना तरे। रथ फर्काइयो। चित्रकूटमा लक्ष्मणले कुटी बनाए। केही समय शान्त थियो। वनवास केवल दण्ड होइन। एउटा जीवन हो। खाली रथ अयोध्या पुग्यो। मालाहरू अझै झुन्डिएकै थिए।