Chapter 76 — Pushpaka Returns

When the bear heroes, vanaras, and rakshasas had gone, Rama remained in Ayodhya with his brothers. The palace was quieter, but not empty of what had been shared there. He found happiness in their company, and for a time the days no longer required a messenger to cross an ocean or an army to stand at a gate.

One afternoon, as Rama sat with his brothers, a voice came from the open air. It was gentle, yet clear enough to make them look upward.

“Look upon me kindly, Rama,” it said. “Know me as Pushpaka, come from the summit of Kailasa.”

The flower-bright aerial palace had gone, at Rama's command, to Dhanada, the lord of wealth also called Vaishravana and Kubera, from whom Ravana had once taken it. Now it returned with Dhanada's message. Ravana had been defeated by Rama in Lanka, Dhanada said; the fall of that destructive king gave him deep joy. Pushpaka was to carry Rama whenever Rama wished to travel through the world.

Rama accepted the message. He did not hold Pushpaka as a spoil that the war had made permanently his. With parched grain, unbroken rice, flowers, and fragrant offerings, he honored the vehicle that had carried him home after the war. Then he gave it leave to go where it wished.

“Come to me when I remember you,” he said.

Pushpaka agreed. Its surfaces seemed alive with flowers as it turned toward its chosen direction and passed from sight. The sky closed behind it, leaving only the ordinary breadth of afternoon above Ayodhya.

Bharata stood with joined palms and looked at Rama. Wonders, he said, were visible throughout the realm under his brother's rule. Again and again, unseen beings had made themselves heard. More than a month had passed without sickness among mortals, and even the old had not met death. Women gave birth to healthy children. The people of city and countryside had a joy beyond the usual measure.

The natural world seemed to answer that well-being. At the proper time Indra sent rain like nectar, and the winds moved with a touch that brought comfort. In Ayodhya and beyond it, people spoke one wish: that such a king might remain with them for a long time.

Rama heard Bharata's words and was glad.