- the prudent Kausalya, Rama’s mother, who had a guileless disposition, addressed him with all the patience at her command: ‘You have done well, my child, I swear; a father’s command is the most sacred of all obligations.

Though he promised you the kingdom, your father has now exiled you to the forest; for this I sorrow not at all. But when you have gone, Bharata and the king and the people will all be put to terrible distress.

In any case if it be only your father’s command, my son, then go not; put your mother first; but if both your father and your mother have asked you to go to the forest, then the woods will equal a hundred cities like Ayodhya.

The forest gods will be your father, the sylvan goddesses your mother and the birds and beasts will wait upon your lotus feet. At all events it is but proper for a king to dwell in a forest in the evening of his life; it is only when I consider your tender age that I am troubled at heart.

How blest is the forest and how luckless this Ayodhya which you will desert, O crown of Raghu’s line! But if I ask you, my boy, to take me with you, your mind will be filled with doubt.

You are supremely dear to all, my son; you are the vital breath of our souls, the life of all that live! And it is you who say, “Mother, I go to the forest!,” while I sit and sorrow on hearing these words.

Thus reflecting, I do not press my suit with a show of love beyond what I really feel; only, I beseech you, ignore not filial piety nor allow me to slip out of your mind.