Arshia Sattar in her latest book Uttara: The Book of Answers translates Uttara Kanda, the final of the seven books that comprise the Valmiki Ramayana
Lakshmana noticed that Rama was depressed and dull like an eclipsed moon. “Do not grieve for me, Rama,” he said gently. “Do as Time said, for it has been ordained. Kill me without hesitation and fulfil your promise. The man who breaks his word goes to hell! If you love me and want to make me happy, then kill me without any second thoughts or misgivings! You must nourish dharma, Rama!”
Rama’s senses were in a whirl when he heard what Lakshmana said. He sent for his ministers and the family priest and told them what had happened. They were silent when they heard the story and then, Vasishtha said, ‘Mighty one, I knew long ago that this calamity, this separation from Lakshmana, was going to happen! Time is all-powerful. You must abandon Lakshmana and keep your word. Dharma is destroyed when a man breaks his promise. And when dharma is destroyed, you can be sure that the three worlds, with all their moving and unmoving creatures, with the gods and the sages, will also perish. You are responsible for protecting the three worlds. If you kill Lakshmana today, you will have established the universe firmly.’
‘I must renounce you, Lakshmana, or else dharma will be violated,’ said Rama when he heard Vasishtha’s words which were filled with purpose and meaning. ‘It will be all the same to good men whether I kill you or abandon you or am separated from you!’ Lakshmana’s eyes filled with tears and he left hurriedly, but he did not go to his own home. He went straight to the banks of the Sarayu where he stopped the activities of his senses and ceased to exhale.
Once again, Rama has been persuaded by the brahmins in his court to abandon those that he loves best because of a dharma that they can see and that they can define for the king. It is ironic that Rama says, ‘It will be the same to good men whether I kill you or abandon you or am separated from you!’ These possible judgements of himself (and the fear of infamy) are the same as the ones he takes into consideration when he decides to send Sita into the forest after their return to Ayodhya—‘good men’, whoever they are (and we can take an educated guess at that) will not care about the reasons why Rama needed to be separated from his loved ones. For them, it is simply enough that the expulsion of first Sita and then Lakshmana from Rama’s life is in accordance with the dictates of dharma.
Rama hears Time’s brutal condition for maintaining the privacy of their meeting and as he has done so many times before, he appoints Lakshmana to take care of the momentous task by asking him to guard the door. Lakshmana agrees, knowing that even a trivial interruption of their meeting could cost him his life. And when he is confronted by Durvasas, he decides that it is better for him, alone, to die than to have the worlds destroyed because of the sage’s anger. When Rama is distraught at what has happened, Lakshmana urges his brother ‘to kill him’, (though, that is not in fact necessary) so that dharma will be firmly established.
NEW PERSPECTIVES
Arshia Sattar in her latest book Uttara: The Book of Answers translates Uttara Kanda, the final of the seven books that comprise the Valmiki Ramayana. Her essays, that accompany the original text, prompt new questions as they explore the consequences of Rama’s actions from a fresh perspective unravelling the complex moral universe of the Ramayana and the dilemmas faced by its protagonists
— Excerpts from Uttara: The Book of Answers by Arshia Sattar
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