Ayodhya Kaanda
97 - Bharata takes a dip in the Mandakini and arrives at Citrakuta; Bharata and others meet one another, mourn the kingís death and perform his Sraddha (obsequies)
Chaupais
Description
The two brothers (Sri Rama and Laksmana) then adored the feet of their preceptor's wife (Arundhati) as well as of all those Brahmana ladies who had accompanied her, paying them all the same honour as is due to the holy Ganga and Goddess Gauri (Siva Consort); while the ladies gladly blessed them in soft accents. After clasping Sumitra's feet they sought her lap even as an abject pauper would hug a treasure. Both the brothers now fell at the feet of mother Kausalya, all their limbs overwrought by love . The mother most fondly clasped them to her bosom and bathed them with tears of affection. How can any poet describe the joy and grief of the occasion any more than a dumb man the taste of what he has eaten. After meeting their mother the Lord of Raghus and His younger brother (Laksmana) requested their Guru to accompany them. And on receiving the sage's command the citizens encamped themselves wherever they saw a suitable site and water close by.