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The king decides to abdicate in favor of Rama; but just as the celebrations reach their climax, a court intrigue forces Rama and Sita into fourteen years banishment; they dutifully accept their fate, and go off to the jungle. The other brothers refuse to benefit from his misfortune, which leaves nobody to run the city; eventually one of them is persuaded to act as regent, but only consents to do so on condition that he lives outside the city and acts in Rama’s name.“Ay?dhya” is Book Two of Valm?ki’s national Indian epic, The Ram?yana. The young hero Rama sets out willingly from the capital with wife and brother for a fourteen-year banishment, which will entail great suffering and further difficult choices in the books ahead. Of the seven books of this great Sanskrit epic, "Ay?dhya" is the most human, and it remains one of the best introductions to the social and political values of traditional India.Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC FoundationFor more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit http://www.claysanskritlibrary.org
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THE CLAY SANSKRIT LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JOHN & JENNIFER CLAY
EDITED BY RICHARD GOMBRICH
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Translation: Copyright by Princeton University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. c 2005 by the CSL. All else: copyright All rights reserved. First Edition 2005 The Clay Sanskrit Library is co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Further information about this volume and the rest of the Clay Sanskrit Library is available on the following websites: www.claysanskritlibrary.com www.nyupress.org
Artwork by Robert Beer. Cover design by Isabelle Onians. Typeset by Somadeva Vasudeva. Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on acid-free paper. Bound by Hunter & Foulis Ltd, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Ram ¯ ayan ¯ .a Book two Ayodhya¯ by Valm´ıki TRANSLATED BY
SHELDON I. POLLOCK
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS JJC FOUNDATION 2005
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN 0-000 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Sanskrit literature–Early works to 1800. 2. Tales–India–Early works to 1800. I.— II. Title. III. Series.
Contents Sanskrit alphabetical order CSL conventions
7 7
´ RAMAYANA Introduction 13 1–6 Rama As Prince Regent 33 7–12 The Boons Of Kaik´eyi 69 13–22 Rama Submits 105 23–28 Sita And L´akshmana 159 29–36 Rama Renounces 187 37–42 Ay´odhya Grieves 227 43–50 The Hermitage On Mount Chitra·kuta 255 51–58 The End Of Dasha·ratha 301 59–68 Bh´arata Returns 345 69–76 Bh´arata Refuses The Throne 387 77–87 Bh´arata In Pursuit Of Rama 423 88–103 Rama Is Resolved 479 104–107 The Viceroyalty Of Bh´arata 571 108–111 Rama Enters The Forest 589 Glossary 613 Index 619 A sandhi grid is printed on the inside of the back cover
sanskrit alphabetical order Vowels: Gutturals: Palatals: Retroflex: Labials: Semivowels: Spirants:
a a¯ i ¯ı u u¯ .r .¯r .l .¯l e ai o au m . h. k kh g gh n˙ c ch j jh n˜ .t .th d. d.h n. p ph b bh m yrlv ´s .s s h
guide to sanskrit pronunciation a a¯ , aˆ i ¯ı, ˆı u u¯ ,ˆu .r
but rather sit fee put boo vocalic r, American purdy or English pretty lengthened .r .¯r vocalic l, able .l e, ˆe, ¯e made, esp. in Welsh pronunciation ai bite o, oˆ, o¯ rope, esp. Welsh pronunciation; Italian solo au sound m anusv¯ara nasalizes the pre. ceding vowel h. visarga, a voiceless aspiration (resembling English h), or like Scottish loch, or an aspiration with a faint echoing of the preceding vowel so that taih. is