Kumudrā

Kumudrā is a nāgakanyā (nāga princess). She is the sister of the nāga king Kumuda. She was destined to become the second wife of Kuśa, the elder son of Bhagavān Rāma, after Bhagavān Rāma’s mahāprasthāna (great departure) to Vaikuṇṭha.

Vasishṭha foretold that the Sūryavaṃśa (the Solar dynasty) would continue through Kumudrā. She would bear Kuśa eight sons and one daughter, and the eldest son, Atithi, would be the successor to the throne.

Vasishṭha’s words about the future

Vasishṭha spoke at the time of Kuśa’s first wedding, to Campikā. He said that it is through Kumudrā that the Sūryavaṃśa will continue.

Later, Vasishṭha Maharshi advised Rāma about the nāga daughters who had been freed from the captivity of Jaladevī at the Pañcappa lake. He said that Kuśa must be left out. His words were: “Kuśa should not be given any of the nāga daughters.”

His reason was this. After Rāma’s departure to Vaikuṇṭha, Kumuda’s sister Kumudrā would herself come to marry Kuśa. She was a nāgakanyā of divine beauty and virtue. That marriage was ordained. It would give the children through whom the Sūryavaṃśa went on. A different nāga bride for Kuśa would have been against this arrangement. For this reason Kuśa was left out of the nāga daughters married to Rāma’s other sons in the Vivāha Khaṇḍa.

Marriage and children

After Rāma’s mahāprasthāna, Kumudrā came to Kuśa as his second wife. His first wife, Campikā, had borne him nine daughters but no sons.

Kumudrā bore Kuśa eight sons and one daughter. The daughter was named Campakamālinī. The eldest of the eight sons was Atithi. He followed Kuśa as king and continued the Solar dynasty as the royal ancestor of the kings who came after.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vivāha Khaṇḍa, Chapters 4, 6, 9