गते तु भरते श्रीमान्सत्यसन्धो जितेन्द्रियः।
रामस्तु पुनरालक्ष्य नागरस्य जनस्य च।
तत्रागमनमेकाग्रो दण्डकान्प्रविवेश ह॥
gate tu bharate śrīmān satya-sandho jitendriyaḥ
rāmas tu punar ālakṣya nāgarasya janasya ca
tatrāgamanam ekāgro daṇḍakān praviveśa ha
gate tu = after had departed; bharate = Bharata; śrīmān = the splendorous; satya-sandhaḥ = who was truthful to His promise; jita-indriyaḥ = the controller of His senses; rāmaḥ tu = Rāma; punaḥ = again; ālakṣya = considered; nāgarasya janasya = that the city dwellers; ca = and son on; tatra āgamanam = might come again; eka-agraḥ = with a fixed determination; daṇḍakān = the Daṇḍaka forests; praviveśa = He then entered; ha= alas.
After Bharata had departed, the splendorous controller of His senses Rāma, who was truthful to His promise, considered that the city dwellers might come again and so on. Alas, with a fixed determination, He then entered the Daṇḍaka forests.
1 Adhārmika is the oppose of dhārmika. It refers to one who does not adhere to Vedic dharma.
The previous verses had described how Lord Rāma had successfully carried out His father’s request—the content of Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa or Canto 2. Now, Nārada Muni begins to describe the subject matter of Canto 3 [known as Araṇya-kāṇḍa].
After Bharata had departed, something else happened. Śrī Rāmacandra had been distressed out of fear that His promise [to His father] might be broken. Now that Bharata had departed, Śrī Rāma became splendorous [in satisfaction]. Despite Bharata’s disruption, He was truthful to His promise. He controlled His senses, that is, He was without any greed for enjoying His kingdom despite the pleas of His mother, Bharata and others.
“And so on” indicates that Rāmacandra noticed that the sages at Citrakūṭa would be tormented [by the asuras because of His presence].
Rāma was fixed in His determination by being attentive to carry out the instruction of His father and because the place was filled with several opponents. It is obvious from the context that Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa also entered the Daṇḍaka forests.
Daṇḍaka was originally the name of a king who had been cursed by Śukrācārya to become a forest. The Daṇḍaka forests refer to the many forests within the area of Daṇḍaka.
śapto brahmarṣiṇā tena vaidharmye sahite kṛte
tataḥ prabhṛti kākutstha daṇḍakāraṇyam ucyate
tapasvinaḥ sthitā hy atra janasthānam ato ’bhavat
“Cursed by the brahmarṣi because of his adhārmika action in the auspicious Satya-yuga, he is referred to as the Daṇḍaka forest.1
The place where the ascetics lived became Janasthāna.” (Rāmāyaṇa 7.81.18-19)
Some manuscripts read daṇḍakām instead of daṇḍakān. It would then indicate that King Daṇḍaka resides in the forest [of his name].