INTRIGUE WASTED

To understand Bharata's feelings, we should keep in mind his innate noble nature, his love for Raama, his grief for his father and the sense of guilt and shame that for his sake his mother had done this grievous wrong. We should not weigh his words in dry air and a chemical balance. In such contexts, poetry flashes fire. One sees it both in Vaalmeeki and Kamban.

Bharata raised his voice and spoke again: "Banish Raama indeed! It is you that ought to be banished, cruel woman, who have forsaken the path of dharma. So far as you are concerned you may take it that I am dead, for I would rather be dead than be son to a murderess!

"Murderess of your husband! You are not the daughter of the good King Asvapati. You are a Raakshasi. To what hell should you go, you, who banished the only child of mother Kausalya? What punishment would be too great for the grief you have caused her?

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