I
The echoes of Janakpur’s nuptial bells,
The listeners mind with heavenly bliss fills.
-the echoes heard in Ayodhya’s all nooks and lanes,
Unending unalloyed merriment no end knows,
When the news of Rama’s marriage in every household flows.

II
Singing and dancing are men and women of all hues,
Expressing their blissful happiness profuse.
One day king Dasratha, the ravages of Time, does observe,
And wills that the regal worries to his worthiest scion shall devolve.
To numerous instruments one can sweet melodies ascribe,
The joys of Kaushala’s subjects none can describe.

III
To the gods the tidings a shock-wave sent,
They saw the whole scheme of things getting bent.
To the goddess Saraswati they yelled,
“O, Mother our interest in danger lies,
Unless you do something through your ties.
Banishment to the woods in lieu of the crown,
Best against the gods’s foes shall frown".

IV
Moved by the gods’ conditions precarious and holy causes,
Goddess Saraswati nodded in affirmative without any pauses.
Endowed with a mind mean, a maid named Manthara selected,
By Saraswati’s design to God’s aim directed.
The melodies sung in the city and the festive glee all around ,
Her mind with gall fills and to the inexorable fate dictates.
The news of Rama’s coronation to her sends a chill.
Driven by Providence chooses to conspire against Dashrath’s will.
To get her end, to Bharath’s mother she goes,
And javelin of her evil design cunningly throws.

V
Her evil tongue Rama’s coronation misfortune interprets,
Ugliest face of Saturn’s wrath against Ayodhya she symbolizes,
Hell bent on throwing out of gear all that bliss epitomizes.
“In a far away land your son does stay,
The king’s cunningness you could not fathom.
'The king is mine', you always thought,
And in this way your gloomy days brought.”

VI
To her motivated scheme Kaikeyi sharply reacts.,
And heaps on her scorns for her evil utterances.
“Let any the throne ascend and hold the scepter,
I shall but be a maid and never a queen become.
I shall henceforth sycophancy pursue,
Or else I shall contrive to hold my tongue sewn.”

VII
The words successfully make a dent,
In her stance Kaikeyi now looks bent.
Her maid the queen requests to swear and to unveil,
Thus it portends Saraswati’s plan shall prevail.
Insidious plans the maid did plant,
Nothing did lie for the queen’s grant.

VIII
“To attain your son’s weal to Kopbhawan you should go,
For Bharath’s coronation and Rama’s exile seeds you shall sow”.
Evil conspired to cause the soul and the supreme soul to fall apart,
Poor Atma miserably failed to match the Maya’s part.
Throwing to the bin the royal robes,
To the king the queen a shocking tiding hurls.

IX
Evening descends and the king to her chamber proceeds,
To share with the queen how Rama to the throne succeeds.
Knowing the queen in the Kopbhawan,
The king into abyss of shock was thrown,
Keen to know what triggered so
which is yet in the territory unknown.

X
“O beloved what drove you to such  an extremity,
To spurn your robes and chambers royal?
And seek refuge in this dreary ambience ,
O beloved what on earth your honour did a twinge suffer ?
To me confide which blockhead has your susceptibilities wounded ?
And the saga of self destruction foolishly scripted ?
Which person’s tether of earthly days ended ?

XI
Nimbly like lightning shall I your commands obey,
Tell me which king I should from my territory banish?
Tell me which pauper I should a millionaire make ?
My beloved for God's sake let your heart itself bare,
And give me access to your heart’s portals.
I die to know what made you put on the mantle of blues,
I repeat please share with me the clues.

XII
Let not posterity me put to shame,
That I failed to justify a lover’s claim.
To thee I give my word,
Men and women are no mightier than insects,
I can to heaven dispatch the mightiest creature of the world,
Even though he be not a mortal born.
I swear in Rama’s name,

XIII
My subjects, my relations, all my assets, my sons,
Even my life shall to your pleasures dance.
Beloved I pray thee believe in the words mine,
Please have your wishes fulfilled,
And bedeck your celestial body with gold and diamonds
And the insignia royal shall your royal grace restore.
For God's sake your sad look cast aside,
And then thou be thyself.”

XIV
Awe-struck by the the Cupid’s play,
The yonder goings-on Tusli watched and penned.
“Many a times you have repeated, ‘Ask for, Ask for’
But never was I given that which you pretended to give.
Doubts about your intents your action itself casts.
Your failures reinforces my belief,
That thy indisposition stands proven beyond cavil,
To pay my recompense for my singular feat of the war”.

XV
“Now your agony I well understand,
I kept your promises as a keeper.
My frail memory to me played a villain.
The charge of dishonesty me greatly grieves,
In lieu of two I shall grant to you wishes four,
For all times to settle the score.
It has been my dynasty’s well-known claim,
That kings rather embrace death than suffer blame.”

XVI
“If to give me my due thou be willing,
Please give my son Bharatha the crown,
And the second one I ask for in supplication.
Clad in hermit?s robes let Rama
Go to the woods for a fourteen years exile.”

XVII
“O beloved please spurn your ire’s fires,
Please do not such a cruel demand make.
In Rama’s name I swear,
Kaushalaya never conspired to rob Bharatha’s prospects regal,
The first wish without hitch I shall grant.
But the second one my heart lacerates.
Renouncing your anger, O, beloved
Ask for such a wish
That Bharatha’s coronation with glee I can witness.
Fish may survive out of water,
Robbed of its mani a serpent may sorrowfully live,
But I cannot survive if Rama from my life taken.”

XVIII
“Millions of tricks you may employ,
I am committed to two boons granted,
Either give me my due,
Or be ready to embrace disgrace.
If by the morn to the forest Rama does not depart,
I shall end my life and that will besmirch your grace’s heart.”

XIX
Smarting under excruciating pain like a bird with wings clipped,
Shorn of rest, the king went on crying,
“O Rama , how can I survive without thee ?”
“O Rama , how can I survive without thee ?”
Seeing the situation intractable,
And the disease beyond cure,
King Dahrath fell fainted to the ground,
Crying O, Rama, O, Rama –a scene that could,
A stony heart melt to tears.

XX
And finally his mortal vest aside the king cast,
And from the heavens watched,
The earthly events from the heavens vast.
Rama’s exile thus was secured through heavenly intervention,
To obliterate the demons from the face of the earth,
the forces demonic that the saintly persecuted
And pave the way for the Rama Rajya
The dispensation that to its denizens secured,
The freedom from the scourge of fires three.

Note for Readers: This is a pure piece of translation and scrupulously follows the relevant text of Ram Charit Manas in the Ayodhya Kand in so far as the circumstances relating to Lord Rama's banishment for 14 years and King Dashrath's death are concerned.