The great epic of the Ramayana tells of how Rama, an avatar of Lord Vishnu, was sent into exile with his wife Sita. It came to pass when his father Dasharatha wished to retire from his throne and live in seclusion in the forest, and named Rama as his heir. Rama’s stepmother, though, was concerned for her own son, and so, reminding Dasharatha of two wishes he had once promised her many years before, demanded that her son Bharata should be placed upon the throne and that Rama should be sent into exile for fourteen years.

These requests broke the heart of Dasharatha, but he was unable to undo his word; to dishonour his promise would betray the dharma, the spirit of duty and religion. When Rama was told that he must be banished, he accepted without complaint. His brother Lakshmana offered to put Rama on the throne by force, but Rama would not hear of it, for it would be contrary to his father’s decree. That very day, therefore, Rama left the city of Ayodhya with Sita and his brother Lakshmana, and they went into the forest.

Surrounded by the beauties of nature, they declared their humble dwelling to be a hermitage, for they looked on their exile as a religious retreat.

Some days after settling in the forest, they saw a cloud of dust on the horizon, as of an army on the move. They surmised that it was Bharata coming to find them and do away with Rama forever, but when the army arrived, a different story unfolded.

Bharata had come to entreat Rama to return to Ayodhya and take the throne, and he told them that Dasharatha, overcome with sorrow, had died. Rama, though, would not accept, for he felt it to be his duty to fulfil his father’s decree and remain in the forest for fourteen years. Instead, he gave Bharata his sandals to place upon the throne in Ayodhya in his place, and he spoke this verse:
I consider the greatest good to be only what my father,
the great-souled one like Indra himself, honored by the world of men,
decreed for me, not even endless lordship over the whole world.