VARANASI: Lamps lit the Ayodhya setting of the Ramnagar Ramlila on Saturday, October 24, as the performance reached Rama’s coronation after the return from exile. Kunwar Anant Narayan Singh walked from the fort to attend the observance and took part in the traditional rajtilak.
In the staged sequence, Guru Vashishtha called for the royal throne, and Rama offered respects before sitting beside Sita. Vedic recitation accompanied the coronation, followed by blessings and the devotional response of the gathering.
Anant Narayan Singh then performed the rajtilak in keeping with the local tradition. The ceremony brought the performance’s royal setting together with a continuing custom associated with the Ramnagar observance.
Return to kingship after exile
The scene represented the restoration of Rama to Ayodhya’s throne. Lamps and the responses of those following the lila gave the episode its celebratory setting, while the story gathered the returning ruler, his family and his companions around the coronation.
The enacted narrative also included the mothers giving offerings to Brahmins and the appearance of Shiva to praise the coronation. These were parts of the Ramayana-based performance, conveyed through its characters rather than reported as literal events in the town.
The scene then turned towards Rama’s companions. He acknowledged the service they had given and sent them home with clothing and ornaments, moving the narrative from the shared campaign and journey towards farewell.
That departure of allies gives the coronation episode more than a single ceremonial moment. It closes relationships formed through the earlier story even as the return to Ayodhya establishes a new royal order within the performance.
Tableau continues through the night
After the principal scenes, the tableau of Rama, Sita and the four brothers remained available for darshan through the night, according to the account of Saturday’s programme. The extended viewing formed a continuation of the observance after the central act of coronation.
Ramnagar’s Ramlila is followed across a sequence of locations and episodes rather than understood only as one evening’s drama. UNESCO identifies Ramnagar among the important centres of the Ramlila tradition and notes that some performance cycles continue for an entire month.
Its description places narration, recitation, dialogue and song within the same tradition, supported by the participation of the surrounding community. The coronation is therefore a milestone within a longer sequence that followers have watched develop over successive days.
Saturday’s report concerns the completed October 24 performance and the overnight tableau that followed it. It does not establish a new schedule for later evenings. The occasion’s defining local details were the lamps, the enacted rajyabhishek and Anant Narayan Singh’s participation after walking from the fort.
