A king's prayer and four sons
Episode 2 of 20 in Ramayana: Valmiki's story, told gently.
Narrated with an AI voice.
- Reading time
- 6 min
- Listening time
- 9 min
- By
- DharmikStudio Originals
- Narration
- AI voice
Read along
Namaste. Welcome back. Last time we sat with Valmiki by the river Tamasa, where his pity for a small bird became the first shloka. Tonight the poem itself begins, in a city.
Take a breath with me. In. And out.
**
On the banks of the river **Sarayu** lies the country of **Kosala**, rich in grain and cattle, and in it stands the city of **Ayodhya**. The name means the city no one can fight against. Valmiki takes his time describing it, and I want you to see it the way he did.
The roads are wide and sprinkled with water so the dust stays down. There are gardens and mango groves, market streets, houses built close together, flags on the rooftops. Musicians and dancers, craftsmen, traders from far lands. The walls are strong and the moat is deep. And the people, Valmiki says, are content. No one is greedy or mean, no one is without learning, no one goes without food. It is a picture of a good city, the kind of place every ruler should want to build.
Over it rules King **Dasharatha**, of the line of Ikshvaku. He is learned, careful, generous, and loved. He has eight wise ministers, among them **Sumantra**, his charioteer and friend, and two family priests, the sages **Vasishtha** and **Vamadeva**.
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And yet, in this happy city, the king carries a quiet sorrow. He has three chief queens, **Kausalya**, **Kaikeyi** and **Sumitra**, but he has no children. He has grown old waiting. His line, the line of so many great kings, may end with him.
One day, thinking about this, he decides to perform the **ashvamedha**, the great horse sacrifice, and pray for sons. He calls his ministers and priests, and they all agree.
Then Sumantra, his old companion, takes the king aside. He says, I once heard an old story from the sages. They said that a young rishi named **Rishyashringa**, who grew up in the forest and knew nothing of the world, would one day help King Dasharatha have sons.
Rishyashringa, Sumantra explains, is now married to **Shanta**, the daughter of King **Romapada** of Anga, a close friend of Dasharatha. So Dasharatha himself goes to Anga, is welcomed warmly, and brings the young sage and his wife back to Ayodhya with great honour.
**
A year passes. When spring returns, the horse sacrifice is held on the northern bank of the Sarayu. It is a huge gathering. Kings come from all sides, guests are fed day after day, and the poem says that no one there ever heard the words "there is none left" or "go away". Everyone is given what they need.
After that, Rishyashringa begins a second rite, specially meant for sons. It is called the **putrakameshti**.
Now Valmiki lifts our eyes from Ayodhya to the heavens. The gods, he says, have gathered before Brahma, troubled. There is a king in Lanka named **Ravana** who has received a boon that no god, no celestial being, no demon can overcome him. In his pride he had not bothered to ask protection from human beings. He thought them too small to matter. Now he troubles the worlds, and nobody can stop him.
At that moment **Vishnu** arrives, and the gods ask him to be born on earth as a man, as four sons of Dasharatha. Vishnu agrees.
I find it lovely that the answer to the pride of power comes as a human child. Ravana looked down on ordinary people, and the help comes in exactly that form.
**
Back at the sacred fire in Ayodhya, something wonderful happens. From the flames rises a great, shining figure, dressed in red, dark and radiant, carrying a golden vessel covered with a silver lid. He speaks to the king. I have been sent by Prajapati. Take this **payasa**, this sweet rice cooked in milk, made by the gods. Give it to your queens, and they will bear sons.
Dasharatha takes the vessel in his hands the way a poor man takes a treasure. He bows, and the being disappears into the fire.
The king goes into the inner palace, glowing with joy. He gives half of the payasa to Kausalya. Half of what is left he gives to Sumitra. To Kaikeyi he gives half of what remains, and then, after thinking, he gives the last portion again to Sumitra. Keep that in mind. Sumitra received two shares.
**
Time passes, and in the twelfth month, in **Chaitra**, on the ninth day of the bright fortnight, under the star **Punarvasu**, Kausalya gives birth to a son. The poem says the child carries the signs of greatness, and his mother shines with him the way Aditi shone with Indra. This is **Rama**. It is this day that families across India still celebrate as **Rama Navami**.
After him, **Bharata** is born to Kaikeyi. And Sumitra, who had two shares, gives birth to twins, **Lakshmana** and **Shatrughna**.
Ayodhya goes wild with happiness. People sing and dance in the streets, gifts are given, the city is full of music. On the eleventh day, Vasishtha performs the naming ceremony and gives the four boys their names.
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Then Valmiki shows us something small and human about these children, and it matters for the whole story ahead.
All four brothers grow up learned, brave and kind, but Rama is the delight of everyone, especially his father. And Lakshmana, from his earliest days, simply cannot be without Rama. The poem says that Rama would not fall asleep unless Lakshmana was beside him, and would not eat unless Lakshmana ate too. When Rama went riding or hunting, Lakshmana followed behind with a bow, guarding him. Lakshmana was like Rama's second life breathing outside his body.
In the same way, Shatrughna is devoted to Bharata. So the four grow up as two pairs, each brother held close by another.
When you hear later how Lakshmana leaves everything to walk into the forest with Rama, or how Shatrughna stays at Bharata's side, remember these two little boys who would not sleep apart.
**
Let us gather what we heard tonight.
Ayodhya on the Sarayu was a prosperous, well-governed city, but King Dasharatha had no children and longed for a son. The sage Rishyashringa led the sacred rite, and from the fire came a radiant being with a bowl of payasa, which the king shared among his three queens. Rama was born to Kausalya, Bharata to Kaikeyi, and Lakshmana and Shatrughna to Sumitra, and the brothers grew up in two close pairs.
**One thing to take with you.** Dasharatha did not keep the gift for one queen. He shared it, thought again, and shared once more, so that no one was left out. Next time something good comes to your home, a sweet, a bit of good news, an extra hour of time, share it one step further than you normally would. See who else it can reach.
In our next sitting, a great sage comes to the palace door and asks the king for the one thing he cannot bear to give.
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**Credits (read out):** Written by the DharmikStudio team from the Sanskrit text of the Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kanda. Narrated with an AI voice. If you hear a mistake, please use "Report a mistake" on this episode.