Dasharatha Returns for a Moment

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Dharma Katha · Season 4: The Road to Diwali · Episode 125 The fire has gone down. Sita stands beside Rama again, in red, her garlands unburned. The gods are still in the sky over Lanka, in their shining chariots. And Shiva, the great god, leans down and says to Rama: look. Look who has come. Rama looks up. And in one of the chariots of the air, shining, dressed in spotless clothes, stands a man he last saw lying on a palace floor, unable to speak, the day he was sent into exile. His father. Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 45 first. Source note. Label: scripture. Dasharatha's appearance, embracing Rama, his words about Kaikeyi and about Ashtavakra, Rama's request to take back the curse on Kaikeyi and Bharata, Dasharatha's words to Lakshmana and to Sita, and Indra's boon reviving the fallen vanaras, are in the Valmiki Ramayana, Yuddha Kanda, in popular vulgate editions around sargas one hundred and nineteen and one hundred and twenty; the critical edition numbers differ. The story of Ashtavakra and his father Kahoda is told in the Mahabharata, Vana Parva. Dialogue is close paraphrase. The reflections are my own. Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.