Ayodhya Kanda

Dasaratha Wants to Crown Rama

Years went by. As always happens, very few notice the inexorable passage of time that drags the things or the people they love most away from their hands. Time mainly takes away youth, life, which is the most important thing, since everything else fits into it. Dasaratha was an intelligent and spiritually advanced person, but not even he noticed that old age was approaching, until the first infirmities began to undermine his body, no longer as powerful as it once was. The first pains began to be felt. A vague sense of weariness towards political and family life began to surface and he thought it was time to give up everything to go and spend the last years of life in the forest.

One day he gathered his advisers. There was a certain gravity in the air.

“Dear friends,” he began. “I’m getting old. Haven’t you noticed it? None of you have ever mentioned it me. The first infirmities begin to undermine the efficiency of my body. At this point, I think the wisest thing to do is to appoint Rama as crown prince and soon retire to the forest in meditation. This has always been the best way to spend the last years of life. It is the eternal path, the duty of every king. Clinging to the comforts and opulence of the court to the end is a disgrace that I don’t want. What do you think about it?” 

 “It is always a painful moment when a virtuous king like you leaves the throne,” Sumantra replied on behalf of all, “but it is perfectly true that this is the religious duty of the kshatriya, and we think your decision is correct. As for Rama, the people love him unconditionally, and they will all be very happy to greet him as the future king.”

Glad to hear those words, on the same day Dasaratha gave the instructions to prepare the ceremony of the investment of Rama. 

When the citizens learned of it, their joy exploded in a thousand celebrations, waiting for the coronation. The city was cleaned and washed with rose water, and it was festively decorated with flags, posters, and with many other ornaments. There was an almost frenzied air of happiness. But the ways of fate are often unpredictable, and in those moments no one could imagine what the future holds.

 

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