Set out on his journey for the Dandaka forest with Sītā and Laksmana, Śrī Rāma reaches at dusk the hermitage of Sage Bharadwāja in the vicinity of the confluence of the holy Gangā and Yamunā rivers. Paying due honours to Śrī Rāma and his party, the sage recommends Citrakūta as the fittest place for him to sojourn in. Spending the night in discourses on various topics with him, the sage grants him leave early next morning to depart for Citrakūta.

Apprehending trouble for Kausalyå and others at the hands of Kaikeyī, Śrī Rāma, who was seated at the foot of a banyan tree and was a past master in the art of persuasion, persuades Laksmana to the best of his ability to return to Ayodhyā. Laksmana, however, pleads inability to survive in his absence and does not budge an inch from his resolution to stay with his eldest brother. Śrī Rāma, therefore, yields and sets his seal to his continuing with him during his exile.

While about to step into the boat brought by Guha’s men and asked by Guha if he could be of any further use to the prince, Śrī Rāma enjoins him to obey the Emperor. Importuned by Sumantra to take him as a personal attendant to the forest, the prince declines his loving offer and, expostulating with him, sends him back to Ayodhyā. Entangling their locks into a thick mass with the milk of a banyan tree, procured by Guha, Śrī Rāma and Laksmana with Sītā get into the boat. On reaching the middle of the stream, Sītā offers prayers to Mother Gangā (the deity presiding over the stream) and after crossing the river all the three halt for the night at the foot of a tree.

Expressing his readiness to guard the Crown prince and his consort, keeping awake the whole night, Guha importunes Laksmana to repose. Reminding Guha of Śrī Rāma’s greatness, Laksmana, however, tells him that even though the duty of guarding his princely brother and his consort could as well be entrusted to Guha, he felt that he did not deserve to lie down in the presence of his elder brother and sister-in-law and preferred to remain awake. Expressing grief for his royal father and loving mothers he therefore spends the night talking with Guha.

Standing with his face turned towards Ayodhyā, Śrī Rāma bids farewell to his birth-place and, sending back the people hailing from the countryside, who had come to see him, and crossing the frontiers of Kosala, Śrī Rāma reaches the bank of the holy Gangā. Alighting from the chariot under an Ingudī tree standing on the bank, he goes forward to meet Guha, the chief of the Nisādas, who had come to meet him. Nay, worshipping the evening twilight and taking water only (for food and drink), the prince lies down on the ground to repose for the night; while Sumantra, Guha and Laksmana spend the night talking together.

Having covered a long distance in the meantime, Śrī Rāma finishes his morning bath and devotions and, having crossed the Vedaśruti, Gomatī and Syandikā rivers, presses forward talking with Sumantra.

Told of Śrī Rāma’s departure for the forest by the citizens, who had gone out with Śrī Rāma and returned, unable as they were to find out the tracks of his chariot, their wives reproach Kaikeyī and break into lamentation.

The citizens that had followed Śrī Rāma in his journey to the forest woke to find Śrī Rāma and his party gone and begin to reproach themselves. Overcome with grief they hunt up the tracks of his chariot; but unable to find them, they helplessly return to Ayodhyā in utter despondency.

Having reached the bank of the Tamasā and thinking of the plight of the people of Ayodhyā, Śrī Rāma lays himself down on a bed of leaves bewailing the lot of his parents and feeling reassured by the thought of Bharata’s noble qualities; while Laksmana opens his dialogue with Sumantra on the divine excellences of Śrī Rāma. Waking up in the meantime, Śrī Rāma urges the charioteer-minister to drive the chariot in such a way as to put the citizens, that had accompanied them, off the scent and lead them to think that the chariot had turned back towards Ayodhyā instead of proceeding towards the forest. He then mounts the chariot alongwith Sītā and Laksmana and presses on to the forest.

When the citizens that followed Śrī Rāma in his journey to the forest refuse to return even when pleaded by Śrī Rāma in many ways, unable as they were to bear separation from him, Śrī Rāma, with Sītā and Laksmana, gets down from his chariot and begins to walk. The citizens try to deflect him from his course and persuade him to return, but in vain. At the close of the day they all reach the bank of the Tamasā.