The Trial by Fire and the Return to Ayodhya

Ram said to Hanuman, "With King Vibhishana's leave, go to the Ashoka grove and give Vaidehi this news."

Hanuman found Sita under the same tree. "Lady, Ram is safe. Ravana is dead. Be free of fear." For a while Sita could not speak. Then she said, "What can I give you for this news? The kingdom of the three worlds would be too little."

Forgiveness

Hanuman's eye fell on the rakshasis, who were trembling now. "Mother, they tormented you for ten months. Give the word and I will kill them with my fists and feet."

Sita thought for a moment, and what she then said is among the gentlest things in the whole Ramayana. "No, Hanuman. They are servants. They did what their master told them. How can one be angry with those who act at another's command? What I suffered was the fruit of my own fate. Hear what a bear once said to a tiger: the good do not return evil even to one who has done them evil. Whether a person is guilty or innocent, one should show compassion. There is no one in the world who has never done wrong."

Fire

Bathed, dressed and adorned, Sita was brought to Ram in a palanquin. The vanaras pressed forward to see her. Vibhishana's servants tried to push them back. Ram stopped them. "These are my own people. In danger, in war, at her own wedding and at a sacrifice, it is no fault for a woman to be seen. Let her come on foot."

Sita came forward shrinking into herself. After so many months she saw her husband's face, and all her sorrow left her.

But Ram's face was hard. What he said made Lakshmana, Sugriva and Hanuman lower their heads. "I have avenged the insult to me and washed away the stain on my house. I did all this not for you but for my own dharma. You have lived so long in another man's house. You may go now wherever you wish."

Sita wiped her tears and spoke quietly but firmly. "You speak to me as an ordinary man might speak to an ordinary woman. My heart, which is in my control, was always in you. My body was not in my control. If this was what you had to say, you could have sent it by Hanuman. I would have given up my life then, and you need not have fought this war. Lakshmana, build me a pyre."

Lakshmana looked at Ram in anger and pain. Ram said nothing. The pyre was lit. Sita walked round her husband, folded her hands before the fire and said, "If my mind has never left Ram for an instant, may Agni, witness of all, protect me." And she walked into the flames. A cry broke from vanaras and rakshasas alike.

Then the god of fire himself appeared in human form, with Sita in his arms. Not even her garments or her flowers were withered. "Ram, here is your Vaidehi. There is no sin in her. Not in word, not in thought, not with her eyes has she looked to anyone but you. Accept her. I command you."

Ram's eyes filled. "I knew. Sita can no more be parted from me than its radiance from the sun. But had I taken her back without a test, people would have said that Dasharatha's son was ruled by desire. I kept silent only so that the three worlds should be convinced." He took Sita's hand.

This episode has troubled people for centuries, and so it should. The Ramayana does not hide it.

King Dasharatha appeared in the sky. He embraced his sons and said to Sita, "Daughter, do not be angry with him." Indra offered a boon. Ram asked nothing for himself. "Let the vanaras and bears who died for me live again." And they all sat up as if waking from sleep.

The Pushpaka Vimana

Only one day remained of the fourteen years, and Ram remembered Bharata's vow. Vibhishana sent for the Pushpaka Vimana. Sugriva, Vibhishana and the whole vanara army said, "We too will see Ayodhya." There was room in the chariot for all.

As they flew, Ram showed Sita the land below. "See, that is the battlefield. That is the bridge Nala built for your sake. That is Kishkindha. That is Rishyamuka, where I met Sugriva. That is Pampa, where I wept for you. There is Jatayu's ground, and there our hut at Panchavati. There is Chitrakoot, where Bharata came. And look, far off, beside the Saryu: Ayodhya. Bow to it."

Nandigram

Halting at Bharadwaja's ashram at Prayag, Ram sent Hanuman ahead. "Tell Guha I am coming. Then go to Bharata and watch his face. If, after ruling for fourteen years, his heart has grown attached to the kingdom, let him remain king."

At Nandigram Hanuman saw Bharata: matted hair, bark cloth, a body wasted by fasting, and before him the sandals on the throne. He was having a fire made ready. Hanuman said, "Ram, for whom you grieve, is safe and on his way." Bharata fainted for joy. When he rose he embraced Hanuman and wet him with tears. "Are you a god or a man? What can I give you?"

The chariot came down. Bharata himself put the sandals on Ram's feet. "I kept this trust of yours safe. The treasury, the granaries and the army are all ten times what they were. Now take your kingdom." Ram drew his brother on to his lap. Vanaras who had not wept in the war wept that day. Ram bowed to all his mothers; the Ramcharitmanas says that the first he went to was Mother Kaikeyi.

The coronation

At Nandigram the matted locks of the four brothers were cut. That night Ayodhya lit lamps at every door. The next day Guru Vasishtha seated Ram and Sita on a jewelled throne and anointed them with the waters of the four oceans and five hundred rivers. Shatrughna held the umbrella. Sugriva and Vibhishana waved the fans.

Ram gave gifts to all. Sita took the necklace of pearls from her own neck and looked at Ram. He said, "Give it to the one with whom you are most pleased." Sita placed the necklace on Hanuman.

Then the reign of Ram began. Valmiki says that in that kingdom no widow wept, no one feared disease or thieves, and the old did not have to perform the last rites of the young. The rains came in season, and people refrained from harming one another simply at the thought of Ram's face. Everywhere there was one word: Ram, Ram, Ram.

Here the Yuddha Kanda ends.