The sun set on the first day of Bharata's mammoth effort, to lead Rama back to Ayodhya. The small hours of dawn the next day saw the arrival of bards and minstrels, who sang praise of Bharata, for whom they only brought distress because his thoughts were full of Rama and of his unjustified exile. Commanding their silence declaring that he was not the king Bharata complained to Satrughna, "Do you see how Kaikeyi has deluded the people? A kingdom rooted in righteousness is in peril.It drifts like a rudderless ship, in an ocean, where the directions remain an enigma and Rama our beacon light has been sent away".

Listening to the lamentations of Bharata the women in the palace too grieved with him. Meanwhile Vasishta walked into the splendor of the golden hall inlaid with precious gems, whose brilliance had not given way to the gloom that prevailed in the palace, but sparkled as brightly as ever! Seating himself he asked for all the generals, ministers, Brahmins and the kshatriyas to assemble.