शत्रुघ्नाभिषेकः शूलरहस्यं च

In the last sarga Rāma had resolved to consecrate Śatrughna king of Madhu's city. Hearing this, Śatrughna, valiant as he was, was overcome with embarrassment and spoke very slowly, for however brave, he was humble before his elder brother. First he set out the moral difficulty. "Kākutstha, lord of men, we know this to be against dharma: how can the youngest be consecrated while his elder brothers still stand?" In Raghu's line the right to rule belonged to the eldest, and Bharata and Lakṣmaṇa were both older than he. "And yet," he went on, "your command, bull among men, must certainly be carried out; your command, most fortunate one, cannot be overstepped." So he laid both sides of dharma before them, the elders' right on one hand and the king's command on the other. Then he looked for his own fault. "I have heard it from you, hero, and I have heard it from the scriptures: when my middle brother had pledged himself, I ought to have said nothing." He stresses what he had heard, as though to show how firmly the teaching was fixed in him: in his view his offence lay in speaking up and pledging himself over his elder brother's word.

"I spoke a harsh and dreadful word," he said, "'I shall kill Lavaṇa in battle,' and this plight of mine, bull among men, is the fruit of that ill-spoken word." He did not see the consecration as an honour but as a punishment. "When an elder has spoken, no reply should be made again; such a reply is bound up with unrighteousness and cut off from the world to come. So, Kākutstha, I will not make a second reply, in case a second punishment falls on me, giver of honour." There is a faint glint of humour in it too: if he answered back again, an even heavier penalty might follow! In the end he gave himself up entirely. "I am here to do your will, O king, bull among men. But, Kākutstha, delight of the Raghus, take upon yourself whatever unrighteousness may fall on me in this." He followed the teaching of the law-books that a deed done at the king's command is the king's responsibility. So Śatrughna accepted the command without giving up his humility or his sense of dharma, and there was not a trace of pride in what he said.

When the heroic, great-souled Śatrughna had spoken, Rāma was delighted, pleased by his younger brother's modesty and his acceptance of the command. He told Bharata and Lakṣmaṇa, "Bring the things needed for the consecration, and see to it carefully. This very day I will consecrate this tiger among men, Śatrughna." "This very day" shows his haste, for the seers were suffering in fear of Lavaṇa and delay was not right. "And by my order, bring the family priest, the townsmen, the officiating priests and all the ministers." A royal consecration was not merely a family celebration; it was carried out with the assent of every part of the kingdom, priests, officiants, citizens and ministers. Taking in the king's command, those great chariot-warriors did as he said. With the family priest in front, showing the primacy of the Vedic rite, the ceremonies began, kings and brahmins entered the royal palace, and the consecration of the great-souled Śatrughna went forward with due rites. Rāma's order was swiftly obeyed, and the brothers' unity is plain.

The consecration was splendid and brought great joy to Rāghava and to the whole city. Consecrated, Kākutstha shone like the sun, as Skanda once shone when the gods with Indra consecrated him commander of their army. The comparison is apt: Skanda was consecrated to kill the asura Tāraka, Śatrughna to kill Lavaṇa, and in both cases the consecration was the prelude to an asura's death. When Rāma, whose deeds cost him no strain, had consecrated Śatrughna, the citizens and the learned brahmins rejoiced. Kausalyā, Sumitrā and Kaikeyī, and the other royal women too, performed auspicious rites in the palace. The mothers celebrating together shows the harmony that had returned to Raghu's house: Kaikeyī, who once stood in the way of Rāma's consecration, now joined in blessing the consecration of the youngest. And the great-souled seers who lived on the bank of the Yamunā, who had come to Rāma for refuge from fear of Lavaṇa, rejoiced too at the news. All the people came together in gladness, and the kingdom was filled with festivity; this part of the sarga pictures the joy of every rank in the realm.

The seers of the Yamunā declared Lavaṇa as good as dead the moment Śatrughna was consecrated; once the consecration was done, they believed, his death was certain, so firm was their trust in Rāma's resolve. Then Rāghava took the newly consecrated Śatrughna on his lap, with a father's tenderness, for with Daśaratha gone the eldest brother stood in his father's place, and filling him with his own energy he spoke sweet words to him. "This is yours: an unfailing divine arrow that conquers enemy cities. With it, gentle one, delight of the Raghus, you will kill Lavaṇa." Then he told the arrow's origin. "This arrow was made, Kākutstha, when the unconquered divine Self-born lay on the great ocean, unseen by gods or demons." This refers to Viṣṇu lying on the ocean at the dissolution of the world. Rāma meant that knowing the weapon's divine source would make Śatrughna's confidence firm.

"Invisible to all beings," Rāma continued, "that god in his anger created this finest of arrows to destroy the two evil ones, Madhu and Kaiṭabha, hero, who were bent on destroying every creature. Wishing to create the three worlds, he killed the pair of them in battle with this arrow. With this chief of arrows he slew Kaiṭabha and Madhu, so that beings might have the world to enjoy, and then he made the worlds." The order is that evil is destroyed before creation: first the obstacles are removed, then the world is made. And there is a subtle play on the name Madhu: at the beginning of time an asura named Madhu fell to this arrow, and now Lavaṇa, Madhu's son, would fall to the same one. Then Rāma revealed his own restraint. "Even when I sought Rāvaṇa's death, Śatrughna, I did not loose this arrow, fearing that it would bring great loss of life among living beings." This shows both the arrow's boundless power and Rāma's compassion; an arrow held back even from Rāvaṇa was now given for Lavaṇa, which shows how much the slaying of Lavaṇa mattered.

Next Rāma described the enemy's strength, since it is unwise to fight without knowing it. "The great spear, the supreme weapon that the great-souled Three-eyed One gave Madhu to destroy his enemies, is now in Lavaṇa's keeping. He keeps it laid away in his house and worships it again and again, and he goes out in every direction to find the finest food," the flesh of living creatures. "But when anyone who wants to fight challenges him, the rākṣasa takes up the spear and burns that man to ashes." With the weapon in his hand he could not be beaten. But it is also implied that the spear stayed in his house and that he did not carry it when he went out for food, and that was the opening his weakness offered. Rāma did not belittle Śiva's boon; he treated it as binding and looked for a remedy within its limits, an example of his righteousness and his skill in statecraft.

Then Rāma gave him the plan. "So, tiger among men, before Lavaṇa has gone back into his city, while he is without that weapon, stand at the gate with your own weapon ready. Challenge him to battle before he has entered his house, bull among men, and then, mighty-armed one, you will kill the rākṣasa. Done any other way, he cannot be killed; but if you do it like this, hero, he will meet his end." And he concluded, "I have told you everything, and how the spear can turn to its holder's undoing; for what the glorious Blue-throated Śiva has ordained cannot be overstepped." The spear protected its holder, but without it he was lost. Here is a first principle of statecraft: choose the time and place where the enemy's strength is absent, for victory in war comes not by valour alone but by intelligence as well. Śatrughna was now equipped with the divine arrow and with knowledge of the stratagem, and in the sargas that follow he will carry out this counsel to the letter. Honouring Śiva's boon while still securing the triumph of dharma: that is the heart of this sarga.