Ayodhya Kaanda
87 - Dialogue between the sage Vasistha and Bharata; Bharata prepares for a journey to Citrakuta in order to bring Sri Rama back to Ayodhya
Chaupais
Description
He had the king's body washed in accordance with the Vedic rites and caused a most splendid funeral bier to be prepared for him. Clasping the feet of his mothers Bharata prevented them (from ascending the funeral pile); they all stayed behind in the hope of seeing Sri Rama. There arrived many loads of sandal-wood and aloes and diverse other excellent aromatic herbs of untold varieties. The pile was raised in an artistic way on the bank of the Sarayu river, and looked like a lovely ladder reaching to heaven. In this way all the rites of cremation were gone through and then the funeral party bathed with due ceremony and offered a handful of water and sesame seeds to the departed soul. After ascertaining the views of all the Smrti texts, the Vedas and the Puranas Bharata performed the ceremony of Dasagatra.* Whatever orders the great sage Vasistha gave on a particular point Bharata carried out all of them in a thousand ways. He bestowed all sorts of gifts on attaining purity.† He gave away cows, horses, elephants and conveyances of various sorts-