Indian traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
Bharata
Bharata returns to Ayodhya to discover his father’s death and the banishment arranged by his mother Kaikeyi. Far from welcoming the succession, he declares his love for Rama and rejects the kingdom as a burden he will not accept on those terms. When the ministers formally request that he take the throne, he refuses and prepares an expedition to find Rama. The succession dispute thus produces an effort to restore the absent brother rather than a struggle to retain his advantage.
Also known as Bharata of Ayodhya
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalBharata returns to Ayodhya to discover his father’s death and the banishment arranged by his mother Kaikeyi. Far from welcoming the succession, he declares his love for Rama and rejects the kingdom as a burden he will not accept on those terms.
Further detail
TraditionalWhen the ministers formally request that he take the throne, he refuses and prepares an expedition to find Rama. The succession dispute thus produces an effort to restore the absent brother rather than a struggle to retain his advantage.
Context & interpretation
This entry concerns Bharata in the collection’s Ramayana retelling, distinct from other figures bearing the name. It selects his reaction to the exile and refusal of the throne, without treating these traditional episodes as independently documented dynastic history.
Original passages
Source 1
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists
this kingdom is too great a burden for meOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Nivedita and Coomaraswamy, Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists (1914), active reader leaf 74
Exact passage checked against the active edition text and original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0109-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0109-E001-P0074
- Original scan leaf
- 74
- Recorded leaf number
- 74
- Current Reader position
- 65
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists
but he refused, and gave orders to prepare an expeditionOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Nivedita and Coomaraswamy, Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists (1914), active reader leaf 75
Exact passage checked against the active edition text and original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0109-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0109-E001-P0075
- Original scan leaf
- 75
- Recorded leaf number
- 75
- Current Reader position
- 66
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
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