page_title: Ramayana
section_title: Ayodhya Kanda
hierarchical_section_title: Ramayana / Synopsis / Ayodhya Kanda
caption_attribution_description: English: Rama, his wife and brother, dressed in the clothes of bark that Kaikeyi has made them put on, ride off in a chariot driven by Sumantra and surrounded by the townspeople. Dasaratha emerges from his palace and goes through the gate of the city surrounded by his queens. Dasaratha and Kausalya according to Valmiki's text hurry after the chariot until Rama, unable to bear the sight, has to tell Sumantra to quicken his pace so that they would be left behind. The artist Sahib Din has the king simply make a grand gesture of farewell. This painting is the climax of a series of densely textured paintings that graphically portray the grief and mounting hysteria of the court as Rama's exile approaches. Whereas the previous ones employ simultaneous narration, in which several episodes appear in one painting, this climactic image focuses powerfully on one incident in the story. The standard with the tree flying from the chariot is not in the text but demonstrates Sahib Din's attention to detail: later in the story, when Bharata's army is approaching Citrakuta, the text mentions that the kovidara (orchid-tree) was emblazoned on his standards.
context_page_description: Ramayana is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Mahābhārata. Along with the Mahābhārata, it forms the Hindu Itihasa.
  The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Maharishi Valmiki, narrates the life of Rama, the legendary Kosala Kingdom. It follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest by his father King Dasharatha, on request of his step-mother Kaikeyi, his travels across forests in India with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnapping of his wife by Ravana, the great king of Lanka, resulting in a war with him and Ram's eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned king. This is the culmination point of the epic. It is considered a sacred book, and is read by millions of people every year.
  There have been many attempts to unravel the epic's historical growth and compositional layers; various recent scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE, with later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE.
  The Ramayana is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature.
context_section_description: After Rama and Sita have been married for twelve years, an elderly Dasharatha expresses his desire to crown Rama, to which the Kosala assembly and his subjects express their support. On the eve of the great event, Kaikeyi – her jealousy aroused by Manthara, a wicked maidservant – claims two boons that Dasharatha had long ago granted her. Kaikeyi demands Rama to be exiled into the wilderness for fourteen years, while the succession passes to her son Bharata. The heartbroken king, constrained by his rigid devotion to his given word, accedes to Kaikeyi's demands. Rama accepts his father's reluctant decree with absolute submission and calm self-control which characterizes him throughout the story. He is joined by Sita and Lakshmana. When he asks Sita not to follow him, she says, "the forest where you dwell is Ayodhya for me and Ayodhya without you is a veritable hell for me." After Ram's departure, King Dasharatha, unable to bear the grief, passes away. Meanwhile, Bharata who was on a visit to his maternal uncle, learns about the events in Ayodhya. Bharata refuses to profit from his mother's wicked scheming and visits Rama in the forest. He requests Rama to return and rule. But Rama, determined to carry out his father's orders to the letter, refuses to return before the period of exile.
caption: Rama leaving for fourteen years of exile from Ayodhya.
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