In The Kamba Ramayana, the very first reference to Bharata’s character is “He who was born knowing the essence of the vedas was given the name Bharata” This gives a hint about his excellent virtue and his bond with Dharma. On the contrary, the other three brothers including Rama got a nominal intro in The Kamba Ramayana. Rama is introduced as “(the) True Being the elephant invoked in his weary struggle with the crocodile” , whereas Lakshmana is introduced as “the might immovable” and Satrughana as “a pearl incarnate” This gives a profound yet an obscure hint to the brothers’ significance in The Kamba Ramayana.
When Rama after completing the exile, on his way to return to Ayodhya stops at Chitrakuta at Sage Bharadwaja’s dwelling, Sage Bharadwaja tells him, “And I must tell you how your noble brother Bharata has been living all these years as your proxy ruler. Berating his fate, perplexed at the unwanted honour thrust on him, he barely lives, more an ascetic than a king. Knowing no quarter except the south, a stranger to all pleasures, abjuring meat and sleeping on grass, he never entered the city of Ayodhya after you left. He lives in Nandigram, reciting your name day and night, the very picture of suffering.” Apart from this, in The Kamba Ramayana, Bharata has directly been compared to “love”. When Kamba narrates about what happened in the invincible city of Ayodhya during the fourteen years of his exile, he says, “That formless and abstract thing called love had taken concrete shape in the form of Bharata! Eyes streaming whenever he thought of his elder brother in the forest, his bones melted by sorrow, he lived like an ascetic, a king only in name. Though food was available in plenty, he only ate what a forest would yield.”
When, at the end of fourteen years, Hanuman goes to Bharata to inform him that Rama is on his way to return to Ayodhya, he gets surprised on seeing that Bharata had already arranged fire to end his life. He was about to offer himself to the flames, when Hanuman stops him and says, “thirteen naazhikais remain yet for the prescribed time to elapse”. Here, one may notice that whenever one is waiting for something to happen or someone to come after a long period of time, then it’s absolutely normal that we generally wait for 1-2 days, thinking it to be a delay caused due to some genuine reason, emergency, etc. But Bharata, instead of giving himself an excuse to wait more for a day or two, decides to end his life even before his exact prescribed time was over. He could’ve assumed that Rama got stuck somewhere, or is a little late due to the long distance, or forgot the exact day on which he was supposed to return, but he chooses to keep his word. He once again proves that the words spoken for him, “without you, Dharma too ceases to exist” are absolutely correct.
In conclusion, it can be said Bharata indeed is the real hero of The Kamba Ramayana. Although his character remains unrecognized, there exist a plethora of instances in The Kamba Ramayana which highlight and prove the significance of his character. Although Bharata was a mere man, the qualities he possessed even surpass the qualities of the Primal Lord, Rama. In The Kamba Ramayana, Rama’s act of insulting Sita and accusing her of enjoying her life in Lanka without even inquiring from others about her lifestyle makes the feminist critics detest his very character. Throughout the whole The Kamba Ramayana text, he behaves in a very balanced and composed way, but in the end after killing Ravana, he all of a sudden behaves like a completely different man. He says to Sita that he hasn’t fought the war to rescue her. But there are instances when before and even during the war, he was lamenting over the loss of his wife and was missing her. He always said that he’s just waiting for the day when he’ll get her back. But his sudden change of character stuns the readers. The reader is left baffled, and feels unable to figure out that what has caused Rama to think and behave in such a manner. But it’s all blurred. There’s no such answer available in The Kamba Ramayana. On the contrary, in the case of Bharata, there’s no instance in The Kamba Ramayana which makes the reader hate Bharata or find any faults in his character. One is forced to feel pity over his pathetic situation. Because of his genuineness and selflessness, Bharata makes the reader look at his character with great reverence. So, it can be said that Bharata is an extremely important part of The Kamba Ramayana, and it won’t be wrong to consider him as a real hero.
