119 sargas · Gita Press numbering
Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa
A coronation becomes an exile. The most intimate and painful book of the epic.
Ayodhyā KāṇḍaVālmīki (primary text)In the text
The story, beat by beat
- Daśaratha announces Rāma's coronation
- Mantharā turns Kaikeyī; Kaikeyī claims her two boons
- Rāma, Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa leave for the forest
- Guha ferries them across the Gaṅgā
- Daśaratha dies of grief
- Bharata refuses the throne and rules with Rāma's sandals
Daśaratha swears to grant Kaikeyī's boons before hearing them, and cannot take the oath back.
Primary text: Śrīmad Vālmīkīya Rāmāyaṇa, Gita Press, Gorakhpur. Later traditions and living-tradition associations are labelled as such. Return to the Rāmāyaṇa World.