SITA: The Peace Within

||Life in Ayodhya||

Coming to the plains- Ayodhya was a different land.It was not simple. It just can't be. Go to the mountains and you shall find people satiated with less. I have my house back at Shimla. Its the capital city and a popular - colonial destination of Himachal Pradesh. Walk around and you shall find gothic-british architectures. There are ghost stories and snow. There are wild animals. After 10 pm, you shall only find tourists roaming around The Christ Church, The Indian Tea house- Barrista and the locals sleeping peacfully amongst the mounatins. It has been a few years of me shifting to Chandigarh- we juggle between the places- hopefully we have got our residences intact in both abodes. But I dearly miss my state and city. But that doesn't keep me from wondering about the fastness of life 100 kilo-meters can bring. Its full of glamour but still at the foothills. And then I went to Delhi - and boom - it was getting hotter and crowded and irritating, but still something new.

Ayodhya- as we know is quite far away from Mithilla. The glories of the Raghuvanshi's were far and wide. It was magnanimous in size- the dream of a man.People were rich- not all, but their was a stark contrast from the satiated crowd of Mithila.

Dashrath had 353 wives but , three chief Queens.
The first queen- Koshalya- obviously-will be the most elder. She was wise, and was the princess of Kosala. She was in the limelight for obvious reasons.

The second Chief queen- Kaikeyi. The most charming of all, she had fought a battle along the king before becoming his consort. The after affects of that battle would jolt Ayodhya badly for a certain fourteen years. Her whole story of marriage and being the most favorite wife dragged her in the limelight.

The third Chief Queen- Sumitra, the daughter of the king's official. In a desperation to have children the king opted for a not so wise option. Marrying a layman's daughter was not a bad idea, but doing it out of complete selfish reasons can't be justified as well. But however , the plan failed.

Don't think that Sumitra faced any prejudices- but still you know,what's not written on pages should be sometimes felt in your heart. Her two sons- were mocked for being too abiding - because of their Mother's history of being the daughter of a man- who performed jobs.
Yeah jobs! How normal it is for us to have our fathers serve a company?-Pretty normal indeed. But then, it was considered a hoax- a menial job. However - the gossips are a staple for the subjects. They take pride in bad-mouthing, because nothing could give them more satisfaction than pulling somebody down as its always hard to rise.

Shanta- Dashrath's daughter out of Kaushalya was the only child for a lot of years. Some say she was given away to Angpradesh's king and Some say she stayed.

More important than that was - She married Rishi Rishyaring. His father had taken every pain to keep him away from women- being cheated by one- not completely. Its just that the attraction to the fairer sex had cost him his penance. The more he protected him- the more easy it became for Shanta to get married to the Rishi.- for obvious reasons.

As she took him back as a Grihasth(Married) to Ayodhya- they performed the famous Putrkameshthi Yagya- to get sons. Dashrath's infertile-ness got a grain.

Four brothers were born
1.Ram (From Kaushalya)
2.Bharat(From Kaikeyi)
3.Laxman and Shatrughan ( the twins)(From Sumitra)

Kaikeyi loved Ram. She showered him with the most priority.Ironical as it may seem, Kaikeyi was the one to give him the exile later.

Do not think of Ayodhya as misogynistic. Just like Janak was the best Mithila could have similarly Ram was the best Ayodhya awaited. Till he was not the king , you could always draw parallels and eventually find a difference.It was a prosperous and a big kingdom.In no way I could say that the yagya was not fine ! He wanted the sons - that's completely fine. Dashrath never treated his daughter any low- so why should anybody bash him for anything ?
He got what was in his platter- amply. Died of his son's absence- could not be cremated immediately  as practically none of his sons were in the kingdom during that time .

Of the queen mothers- they were gentle and caring. If the brothers loved each other so much- it was because of what they saw in their family. Wives of the same man living like sisters. But in the background they knew that what looks gold on the surface may not be same at the core.
Every brother married just once. They abided by the rule of monogamy - because somewhere they saw the fears and insecurities the ladies had to suffer when somebody else shared their position.

That is what I love about Ayodhya. Everything was enchanting and believe me it was a dream under Ram's kingship. Only if the subjects had maintained the same respect for the Royality- the Uttarakand we Read today could have looked less painful.

PS.Uttarkand was a latter addition to the narrative.( but that doesn't stop it from giving values. The way it is interpreted now a days is baseless. I know many things were out of character- hopefully we all shall analyse it later in this book)

Next part shall depict the bond of the brothers- maybe through a story.
Happy reading !!!!

EDIT: @paarthaw @Hannahstorm311 @_Ahankara_ , and all the readers!
Let's see some of valmiki's verses that provide us with some information on the number of Dashrath's spouses.
The marriage led to the King wearing a kangan for a year. Some say it was a sign that prevented Parshurama from approaching any Kshatriy. 
According to me- seeing his age and inability to produce a child its possible that he had married many times. The expanse of Ayodhya also had led to many friendships - maybe marriages as well!!

Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, Chapter 34, Verses 10 to 13:

Dasharatha summons Sumantra to fetch all his wives when Rama was ready to go to forest.

Sumantra, after entering the gynaecium, spoke these words to those women as follows: "Oh, the venerable ladies! The king is calling you. Go there without delay. All those women, asked thus by Sumantra as per the king's orders, went to his palace, after knowing the instructions of their husband.'

Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, Chapter 34, Verse 10

Dasaratha said to Sumantra, "Oh, Sumantra! being all my wives, who are here. Surrounded by all of them, I want to see the virtuous Rama." ('who are here' means available at the capital city then)

Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, Chapter 34, Verse 13:

अर्ध सप्त शताः ताः तु प्रमदाः ताम्र लोचनाः |
कौसल्याम् परिवार्य अथ शनैः जग्मुर् धृत व्रताः || २-३४-१३

"ardha sapta shataah taah tu pramadaah taamra locanaah | kausalyaam parivaarya atha shanaih jagmur dhrita vrataah ||" 2-34-13

'Encircling Kausalya, three hundred fifty women, steadfast in their vow (of devotion to their husband), with their eyes reddened, went there slowly.'Valmiki Ramayana, Book II : Ayodhya Kanda, Chapter (Sarga) 39, Verse 36:

एतावद् अभिनीत अर्थम् उक्त्वा स जननीम् वचः |
त्रयः शत शत अर्धा हि ददर्श अवेक्ष्य मातरः || २-३९-३६

etaavad abhiniita artham uktvaa sa jananiim vacah |
trayah shata shata ardhaa hi dadarsha avekshya maatarah || 2-39-36

Uttering the aforesaid words of such quality and appropriate meaning to his mother, Rama thought once again and gazed at his three hundred and fifty step-mothers.

Valmiki Ramayana, Book II : Ayodhya Kanda, Chapter (Sarga) 39, Verses 37 to 40:

Rama joined his palms and saluted those step mothers also, who were too distressed in the same way and spoke these words which were in consonance with the spirit of righteousness.

"Please excuse me, if I have done any mistake either becuase of our living together or due to ignorance on my part. I now take leave of you all." All those women, whose mind was overpowered with grief, heard the aforesaid cool submission of Rama, which was in consonance with righteousness. While Rama was speaking thus, an outery, resembling the wail of female cranes arose from those wives of Dasaratha