IIT Kanpur English Commentary

Modern synthesis of traditional Sanskrit commentaries (Desiraju Hanumanta Rao & K.M.K. Murthy)

Narada shifts here into the future tense to describe Rama's coming reign: people will be free of malice, jealousy, and fear of drought or robbery; no woman will be widowed young; there will be no hunger. The commentary contrasts this directly with the Krita Yuga, the first and most perfect age, noting that even though the world will by then be partway into the Treta Yuga -- where a portion of adharma has already entered -- Rama and Lakshmana's presence is enough to keep it from touching their kingdom specifically. It also connects Rama's hundred Ashvamedha sacrifices to the tradition's teaching that such sacrifices, performed without any wish for personal gain, lead to Brahmaloka -- and reads Rama's performing them anyway, despite already being an incarnation of Brahman by the text's own account, as him fulfilling the human obligations that come with taking human form.