Meanwhile in Ayodhya...
King Dasharatha of the dynasty of Ikshwakas was ruling northern India with Ayodhya as his capital. He was married to three queens - Kausalya, Sumitra and Kikeyi- but none of them bore any children for him. Desperate for an heir, the king consulted his guru who advised him to perform the Putra Kameshti Yajna. Dasharatha performed the yajna with the help of the sages, priests and gurus as prescribed in the Vedas. The gods were pleased by his yajna and a divine being came out of the yajna fire and offered the king a vessel of prasadam. The divine being told the king to distribute the prasadam equally among his three wives and they would soon bear sons who would be the incarnation of Lord Maha Vishnu Himself.
Dasharatha was pleased and parceled the prasadam out to his three wives equally. However, Kausalya gave a part of her portion to Sumitra. So did Kikeyi. Thus Sumitra partook twice as much of the prasadam as either Kausalya or Kikeyi.
In due time, they all became pregnant. To Kausalya was born Rama and to Kikeyi was born Bharata. Sumitra gave birth to twins who were named Lakshmana and Shatrugna.
Rama was the incarnation of Vishnu Himself. Lakshmana was His serpent bed, Adi Shesha. Bharata and Shatrugna were the conch Panchajanya and the discuss weapon Sudarshana of Lord Vishnu. The three wives showed love and affection to each other's sons and the brothers grew up happy. The brothers were very much fond of each other. However, Rama and Lakshmana shared a special bond between them and they were inseparable.
King Dasharatha liked Rama very much out of all of his sons as Rama was the most obedient, helpful, pure hearted and a loyal son. But somewhere a feel of jealousy was created in Kikeyi mind.
(# She really didn't hate or dislike Rama, she loved him just like her sons, but constantly she used to get deflected from her thoughts because of her maid. You cam probably call her as the main reason the the happening in this epic Ramayana. You'll get to know about her in the upcoming chapters.)
YOU ARE READING
Bhumija
RandomSita is the consort of Lord Rama, the seventh avatar of Sri Maha Vishnu, in Hindu mythology. Sita is one of the main characters in the Ramayana, a major Hindu epic. Born in Sitamarhi, Sita was taken to Janakpur soon after her birth by her father, Ma...
