Chapter 78 — The City's Words

In another part of the palace, Rama sat among men who entertained the court with stories, riddles, laughter, and reports of what people were saying beyond the royal doors. Bhadra was there, with Vijaya, Madhumatta, Kashyapa, Pingala, Kusha, Suraji, Kaliya, and others. Their talk had been light. Rama interrupted it.

“What stories are being told in the city?” he asked. “And in the countryside? What do people say of me, of Sita, of Bharata and Lakshmana, of Shatrughna and my mother Kaikeyi? A ruler newly established in a kingdom becomes the subject of speech. Tell me what they say.”

Bhadra joined his palms. “The speech in the city is favorable, king.”

“Tell it all,” Rama said. “What is favorable and what is not. Speak without fear or hesitation. When I hear the good, I may protect it. When I hear what is wrong, I may not do it.”

So Bhadra began with what people praised. They spoke of the bridge laid across the ocean, a work no earlier king, not even the gods with their enemies, had accomplished. They spoke of Ravana, hard to overcome, struck down with his army. They spoke of vanaras, bears, and rakshasas brought into Rama's service and of Sita returned from Lanka.

Then Bhadra gave the rest, as Rama had required him to do.

In crossroads and market streets, in gardens and smaller settlements, people were asking how Rama could have brought Sita back into his home after Ravana had seized her by force and held her in Lanka. They spoke of the Ashoka grove there, of her confinement among rakshasas. They asked how Rama could take joy with a wife whom another man had held captive. And they said that what a king did, his people would learn to bear in their own homes.

It was slander, reported as the speech of the people, not a revelation about Sita. But its cruelty did not diminish because it was false.

Rama listened without interrupting. When Bhadra had finished, he turned to all who sat with him.

“Is this truly what is being said?”

They bowed until their heads nearly touched the ground. “It is true that such words are being spoken,” they told him.

Rama heard them. The brightness went from his face; his grief was plain. He sent his companions away, and the room that had been full of stories and laughter emptied around him.