Bhardvaja Ashrama

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Bhardvaja-Ashrama (भारद्वाज-आश्रम), mentioned in Ramayana, is located at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana had met Bharadvaja at his asrama (hermitage) at the start of their fourteen-year exile.

Variants

• Bhardwaja-Ashrama भारद्वाज-आश्रम (AS, p.665)

History

In the epic Ramayana, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana meet Bharadvaja at his asrama (hermitage) at the start of their fourteen-year exile. The sage asks them to stay with him through the exile, but they insist on going deeper into the forest to Chitrakuta which is three kosla away from ashram. Bharadvaja gives them directions. Also Bharata along with Sumanta received at Ashram by Bharadvaja while Bharata went on to forest in search of Lord Ram for re-union and to bring Lord Rama, Sita and Laxmana back to Ayodhya. He reappears at various times in the epic. According to James Lochtefeld, the Bharadvaja in the Ramayana is different from the Vedic sage mentioned in Panini's Ashtadhyayi.

Bhardvaja Ashrama

Sister Nivedita and Anand K. Coomaraswamy mentions the story when Rama, Sita and Lakshman went into Exile....Driving fast for two days, Rama reached the boundary of Koshala, and, turning back toward Ayodhya, bade farewell to land and people.... Next day they reached the holy place where Ganga joins with Jamna at Prayag ; there they came to the hermitage of Bharadwaja (Bhardvaja-Ashrama), guided by the wreathing smoke of his sacrificial fire, and they were welcome guests. Bharadwaja counselled them to seek the mountain of Chitrakuta, ten leagues from Prayag, which was a fit abode for them.....

So Rama and Sita and Lakshman took leave of Bharadwaja and crossed the Yamuna by a raft, and came to Shyama.....

On the second day they reached the Chitrakuta mountain, where was the hermitage of Valmiki (Valmiki-Ashrama). Greeted by that rishi, Rama told him all that had befallen. Then Lakshman fetched divers sorts of wood, and those brothers built a goodly house with doors and thatched with leaves. Then Lakshman slew a deer and cooked it, and Rama made ritual offerings to the divinities of that very place, and after communion with the deities he entered the well-wrought thatched house with Sita and Lakshman, and they rejoiced with happy hearts and cast off grieving for Ayodhya.

भारद्वाज-आश्रम

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ...भारद्वाज-आश्रम (AS, p.665): इलाहाबाद स्थित यह आश्रम संत भारद्वाज से संबंधित है. वर्तमान में प्रयाग रेल स्टेशन के निकट इसकी स्थिति बताई जाती है. रामायण काल में यह प्रयाग के अंतर्गत था. वन जाते समय भगवान राम, सीता और लक्ष्मण तथा उनसे मिलने के लिए चित्रकूट आते हुये भरत और पुरवासी गण, भारद्वाज के आश्रम में ठहरे थे. वह गंगा-यमुना के संगम के पास स्थित था. चित्रकूट भी यहाँ से पास ही था. वर्तमान में यहां भारद्वाजेश्वर महादेव, संत भारद्वाज और देवी काली का मंदिर है.