Valmiki Ramayana 2.76.23: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 76, Shloka 23
दशरथस्य अन्त्येष्टि
विधानम् · Dasaratha’s Funeral Rites and Ayodhya’s Mourning
Setting: Sarayū-side rites → return into AyodhyaPlaces named: पुरम् (Ayodhya)Post-udaka-kriyā return from river/cremation ground to city
कृत्वोदकं ते भरतेन सार्धं नृपाङ्गना मन्त्रिपुरोहिता श्च ।
पुरंप्रविश्याश्रुपरीतनेत्राः भूमौ दशाहं व्यनयन्त दुःखम् ॥२३॥
kṛtvodakaṃ te bharatena sārdhaṃ nṛpāṅganā mantripurohitāś ca |
puraṃ praviśyāśruparītanetrāḥ bhūmau daśāhaṃ vyanayanta duḥkham ||23||
പിന്നീട് ഭരതനോടൊപ്പം ഉദകക്രിയ (തർപ്പണം) അർപ്പിച്ച ശേഷം, രാജാവിന്റെ പത്നിമാർ—മന്ത്രിമാരും പുരോഹിതന്മാരും കൂടെ—നഗരത്തിൽ പ്രവേശിച്ചു; കണ്ണുകൾ കണ്ണീരാൽ നിറഞ്ഞവരായി, ഭൂമിയിൽ ശയിച്ച്, പത്ത് ദിവസം ദുഃഖത്തോടെ ശോകകാലം കഴിച്ചു.
Sandhi Notes
- कृत्वोदकम् → कृत्वा + उदकम्
- पुरंप्रविश्य → पुरम् + प्रविश्य
- प्रविश्याश्रु... → प्रविश्य + अश्रु...
- मन्त्रिपुरोहिताः = मन्त्रिणः + पुरोहिताः (द्वन्द्व)
- दशाहम् = दश + अह (द्विगु)
- अश्रुपरीतनेत्राः (बहुव्रीहि)
The wives of the king, counsellors and priests along with Bharata offered water-libation and entered the city with tearful eyes. They spent the ten-day mourning period sleeping on the ground (floor) in great grief.ityārṣē śrīmadrāmāyaṇē vālmīkīya ādikāvyē ayōdhyākāṇḍē ṣaṭasaptatitamassargaḥ৷৷Thus ends the seventysixth sarga in Ayodhyakanda of the holy Ramayana, the first epic composed by sage Valmiki.
The teaching
In bereavement, dharma prescribes both action (udaka-kriyā) and restraint (daśāha śauca), allowing grief to be honored without abandoning order.
Duties in tension
- State continuity and royal decorum vs. personal bereavement
- Comfort/normal life vs. śauca austerities (ground-sleeping, daśāha)
- Ethical theme
- Pitr̥-dharma and śauca-ācāra
- How it resolves
- Ritual and social dharma prioritized; mourning institutionalized
For your practice
Encourages disciplined mourning, remembrance, and humility; aligns with practices of offering, letting go, and observing restraint.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Shanta (peace)
- Mood
- Exhausted, ritual-complete, mourning-stillness
Themes
- Dharma
- Antyeṣṭi (funeral rites)
- Śrāddha-related libations (udaka)
- Mourning observance
- Itihasa
- Ethics
The ten-day ground-sleeping signifies deconstruction of ego and status; grief becomes a sādhana of humility, pointing to the unreality of external rank before death.
A quiet echo of vairāgya: renouncing comforts (ground-sleeping) aligns with the insight that security is not in possessions but in inner steadiness.
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.77 (mourning and political aftermath); Mahābhārata: śauca and daśāha observances after death (general parallels); Rāmacaritamānasa: Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa—Bharata’s grief and rites (parallel episode)
Dharmaśāstra/Gṛhya prescriptions of udaka-kriyā and daśāha śauca (general)
Ayodhyākāṇḍa: Bharata’s return and assumption of ritual responsibility after Daśaratha’s death
अनुष्टुप् (Anuṣṭubh)
Solemn
Slow, low register; slight pause at ‘दशाहम्’ to mark the ritual time-span
FAQs
Dharma is sustained through shared rites and disciplined mourning: offerings for the departed and a defined mourning period express respect, memory, and social stability.
Following the cremation-related observances and water-libations, the royal household and officiants return to Ayodhyā and observe ten days of mourning.
Collective responsibility and reverence—ministers, priests, and queens uphold tradition and honor the king through prescribed observances.
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