Having observed the tenday mourning period, Bharata purified himself on the twelfth day and got the shraddha rites (obsequies) performed.

During the shraddha ceremony (obsequies) Bharata bestowed on brahmins precious stones, wealth, large quantities of rice, highly valuable garments and various gems.

At the time of performing the rites pertaining to the other world, Bharata bestowed on brahmins herds of white goats, cows in hundreds, male and female servants and spacious houses and carriages.

Thereafter at the hour of dawn on the thirteenth day mightyarmed Bharata visited the cemetery to perform the purificatory ceremony. Approaching the place of the funeral pyre of his father, he lamented in the intensity of grief:

Thereafter at the hour of dawn on the thirteenth day mightyarmed Bharata visited the cemetery to perform the purificatory ceremony. Approaching the place of the funeral pyre of his father, he lamented in the intensity of grief:

O dear father, my brother Rama to whom you have entrusted me has been sent to the forest now and I am left in a vacuum.

Where have you gone, my king my father, forsaking mother Kausalya who is without a protector and whose only support Rama, her son has been sent away to the forest?

Having seen the circular place, looking reddishbrown with burnt bones and ashes, where his father's body was consumed by fire, Bharata started crying aloud in deep despondency.

On seeing the cremation ground desolate Bharata collapsed sobbing on the ground like a fastened flag staff of Indra, which fell as it was being raised.

Immediately all his counsellors ran towards him like the ascetics who raised Yayati, a man of pious vows, when he fell down at the final hour.

Beholding Bharata, Satrughna also plunged in grief remembering the king, and fell unconscious on the ground.

Recollecting the many virtues of his father again and again, like a madman, Satrughna, mentally unsteady, lamented in profound sorrow.

With Manthara as the source, Kaikeyi as a crocodile, this terrible sea of sorrow which has submerged all of us lies unruffled.

Where have you gone dear father, leaving the lamenting Bharata, so young and tender, who was always your darling?

You used to make all of us choose delicious food, drinks, garments and ornaments. Who else will do that now?

You are a righteous and mighty king and without you, this earth would have been broken into pieces. But it does not.

With my father ascended to heaven and Rama gone to the forest, where is the strength in me to live? I shall enter the blazing fire.

Devoid of my father and brother, I will not return to empty Ayodhya that was once ruled by the Ikshvakus. I will enter the grove of asceticism .

Having heard the lamentataions of both the brothers and reflecting the calamity befallen on them, the attendants felt extremely afflicted once again.

Thereafter, both Satrughna and Bharata, dejected and exhausted, lay writhing on the floor like two bulls with their horns broken.

Then his father's family priest Vasistha of composed mind and versed in the Vedas raised Bharata and said to him:

O lord, this is the thirteenth day since the death of your father. The heap of bones and ashes still remain on the pyre. Why this delay on your part?

There are three dualities (hunger and thirst, pain and pleasure, birth and death), which are applicable to all living beings without any exception and cannot be eschewed. Therefore, it does not behove you to act in this way.

The knower of reality Sumantra helped Satrughna to rise, after having consoled him, imparted him the truth about the inevitability of birth and death.

Having risen from the earth both the illustrious tigers among men, Bharata and Satrughna looked faded and weather beaten like the banners of Indra that had faded under the Sun and rain.

The counsellors hastened up both the sons, who were wiping away the tears and speaking with blodshot eyes, to complete the remaining part of the funeral rites. इत्यार्षे श्रीमद्रामायणे वाल्मीकीय आदिकाव्ये अयोध्याकाण्डे सप्तसप्ततितमस्सर्गः।। Thus ends the seventyseventh sarga in Ayodhyakanda of the holy Ramayana, the first epic composed by sage Valmiki.