Daśaratha

Daśaratha was the king of Ayodhyā, a cakravartī (universal emperor) of the Ikshvāku line of the Sūryavaṃśa (Solar dynasty). He was the son of Aja and the father of Rāma, Bharata, Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna. He was a king of great dharma, courage and generosity. He ruled Ayodhyā with splendour for many years. Long without a son, he performed the Putrakāmeshṭi yajña and Bhagavān Rāma and his three brothers were born. His sorrow, the exile of Rāma, came from the two varas (boons) he had once promised to Kaikeyī. Bound by his word and by love for Rāma, he could not live through the parting. He died in Ayodhyā a few days after Rāma crossed the Gaṅgā into the forest, and the old śāpa (curse) laid on him in his youth came true.

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, the Agni Mahā Purāṇa, the Padma Mahā Purāṇa and the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa each tell part of his life. They are set out below text by text.

Lineage and reign

The Agni Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 5) traces the Solar dynasty from the lotus that grew from the navel of Bhagavān Vishṇu. It runs: Brahmā, Marīci, Kaśyapa, Sūrya (Vivasvān), Vaivasvata Manu, Ikshvāku, Kakutstha, Raghu, Aja, Daśaratha. Daśaratha was the last great king of this line, and through him Bhagavān Vishṇu chose to come down as Rāma.

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 70, gives a longer line. Vasishṭha recited the whole Solar lineage to Janaka at Mithilā:

Brahmā, Marīci, Kaśyapa, Sūrya, Manu, Ikshvāku, Kukshi, Vikukshi, Bāṇu, Anaraṇya, Pṛthu, Triśaṅku, Dundumāra, Yuvanāśva, Māndhātā, Susaṃdhi, Dhruvasaṃdhi, Bharata, Asita, Sagara, Asamañja, Aṃśumān, Dilīpa, Bhagīratha, Kakutstha, Raghu, Pravṛddha, Śaṅkhaṇa, Sudarśana, Agnivarṇa, Śīghraga, Maru, Praśuśruka, Ambarīsha, Nahusha, Aja and Daśaratha.

Daśaratha ruled Ayodhyā as a cakravartī in the fullest sense. His authority, virtue and fame reached in every direction. His court was kept with great splendour. Vasishṭha was his royal preceptor and Sumantra was the most trusted of his ministers. He had performed many great yajñas. He was known for his generosity to brāhmaṇas, his courage in battle and his rule by dharma (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa).

The Bāla Kāṇḍa (Chapter 7) names his eight chief ministers: Dhṛshṭi, Jayanta, Vijaya, Siddhārtha, Arthasādhaka, Aśoka, Mantrapāla and Sumantra. His purohitas (household priests) included Vasishṭha, Vāmadeva, Jābāli and Suyajña.

His queens

He had three chief queens. Kauśalyā was the chief queen and the mother of Rāma. Kaikeyī was the daughter of the king of Kekaya and the mother of Bharata. Sumitrā was the mother of Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna. Of all his sons, Rāma was dearest to him. The Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa (Chapter 4) calls Rāma Daśaratha’s prāṇa, his very breath of life.

The Putrakāmeshṭi and the birth of the four princes

The Agni Mahā Purāṇa account

Daśaratha ruled with perfect dharma and his people loved him, but he had no children. This grieved him, because a king without sons cannot perform the rites for the welfare of his ancestors. The ṛshi Ṛshyaśṛṅga performed the great Putrakāmeshṭi yajña for him. From the yajña came sacred pāyasa (consecrated food). Daśaratha shared the pāyasa among his three queens: half to Kauśalyā, a quarter to Kaikeyī, and the rest divided between Sumitrā’s two shares. When the queens ate their portions they conceived. Kauśalyā bore Bhagavān Rāma, Kaikeyī bore Bharata, and Sumitrā bore Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna. They were four forms of Bhagavān Vishṇu, who came down in four parts to destroy Rāvaṇa and the other rākshasas (Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 5).

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa account

After the Aśvamedha, Ṛshyaśṛṅga performed the Putrakāmeshṭi. The Yajña Purusha rose from the fire carrying a golden vessel. Daśaratha shared the pāyasa as follows: Kauśalyā received half, Sumitrā received a quarter, Kaikeyī received an eighth, and Sumitrā received the last eighth (Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 16).

The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa account

The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa tells how Daśaratha longed for sons and how that wish was met, with its own stress on devotion.

For many years Daśaratha carried the grief of having no children. He went to his kula-guru (family teacher) Vasishṭha and asked for a remedy. Vasishṭha comforted him: “Grieve no more. Four world-famous sons will be born to you.” Vasishṭha then called Ṛshyaśṛṅga and had him perform the sacred Putrakāmeshṭi yajña.

Agni himself came out of the sacrificial fire, handed Daśaratha a vessel full of pāyasa and said: “Daśaratha, your wish will be met as Vasishṭha promised. Share this pāyasa among your three queens as is right.” Then Agni vanished.

The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa describes the sharing in a way that differs from the Vālmīki account. Daśaratha divided the pāyasa into two halves and gave one half to Kauśalyā. Of the remaining half, he gave one portion to Kaikeyī. He then divided the last portion in two again, one part to Kauśalyā and the other to Kaikeyī. Kauśalyā and Kaikeyī each touched their portions with both hands and gave them to Sumitrā. So Sumitrā received portions touched by both of her senior co-queens.

Nine months later, on Caitra śukla navamī in the Abhijit muhūrta, Kauśalyā gave birth to Rāmacandra. Then Kaikeyī bore Bharata, and Sumitrā bore the twins Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna. Daśaratha’s joy had no limit. He knew that Bhagavān Vishṇu, the Paramātmā, had made his house holy, and he was filled with divine bliss. He performed the nāndīmukha and jātakarma rites, honoured brāhmaṇas with gifts and ordered celebrations through the city. Ayodhyā rejoiced for a whole month as if it were one day (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Śrī Rāma Janana).

Rāma goes with Viśvāmitra

When Rāma grew into a bright youth, the ṛshi Viśvāmitra came to Daśaratha’s court. He asked the king to send Rāma, still very young, to guard his yajña against the rākshasas who were disturbing it. Daśaratha was seized with the grief of a father who cannot bear to risk his dearest son. He offered his own armies and his own life, but he was unwilling to send the boy. Vasishṭha advised him to trust in Rāma’s divine nature and agree. So Rāma went with Viśvāmitra, and Lakshmaṇa went with them. This began the journey of the slaying of Tāṭakā, the gift of divine weapons, the guarding of the yajña, and in the end the court of Janaka and the winning of Sītā (Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 5).

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa gives Daśaratha’s own words when Viśvāmitra asked for Rāma. He said: “viprayogena muhūrtam api notsahe jīvitum”, meaning “I cannot live even a moment apart from Rāma.” Only when Vasishṭha reminded him that breaking a given word destroys all puṇya (merit) did he agree. He said: “I won this child through 60,000 years of hardship and by the grace of the Putrakāmeshṭi yajña. How can I send him away?” (Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 19–21).

The plan to crown Rāma

In his old age Daśaratha decided it was time to hand on the throne. He called a great assembly of ministers, ṛshis, subject kings and leading men. Before them he declared that he would crown Rāma as yuvarāja (crown prince) the next day. Everyone was glad, for Rāma was loved by all for his dharma, gentleness and courage. Vasishṭha led the long preparations, the city was splendidly decorated and every omen was good. That evening Daśaratha privately urged Rāma to spend the night fasting with Sītā and keeping a vrata (vow), ready for the crowning at dawn (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 1–8).

Kaikeyī’s varas and the exile

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa account

That same night the maidservant Mantharā, alarmed by the preparations and moved by jealousy, persuaded Kaikeyī to use the two varas Daśaratha had once given her. Long before, Kaikeyī had gone with Daśaratha to battle and saved his life. He had then offered her any two varas she chose, with no conditions. Kaikeyī had kept them for a time of need. Mantharā now argued that the time had come.

Kaikeyī went into the kopa-gṛha (the chamber of anger). She took off her ornaments, threw aside her jewels and lay on the floor. Daśaratha followed and found her there. He was alarmed and spoke gently, urging her to name her wish and promising to grant anything. Kaikeyī then named her two varas. First, Bharata was to be crowned king of Ayodhyā in Rāma’s place. Second, Rāma was to be sent to the Daṇḍaka forest for fourteen years, wearing bark cloth and matted hair (jaṭā).

The words struck Daśaratha like a thunderbolt. He fainted and fell to the floor. When he woke, he pleaded all night. He called Kaikeyī cruel, reminded her of Rāma’s virtues, and offered kingdoms, wealth and anything else. He wept and begged without holding back. Kaikeyī did not move. She held to the varas by the unbreakable power of his oath. Daśaratha was caught in the hardest of conflicts. On one side was his great love for Rāma. On the other was the strict dharma of satya (truth), the binding force of his own word. He could escape neither duty (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–12).

The Agni Mahā Purāṇa account

After Rāma came home with Sītā and the four royal weddings were celebrated, Daśaratha told his ministers and all Ayodhyā that he would crown Rāma yuvarāja the next morning. The city was decorated and every heart was glad. Mantharā, Kaikeyī’s hunchbacked attendant, who held a private grudge against Rāma, went to Kaikeyī and filled her mind with fear and jealousy. She reminded Kaikeyī of the two varas Daśaratha had given her long before, when she saved his life on a battlefield. Kaikeyī, poisoned by Mantharā’s advice, went to the chamber of anger and lay on the floor as if in grief.

Daśaratha came to her and swore by Rāma himself that he would grant any wish. She asked for the two varas. Bharata was to be made yuvarāja at once, and Rāma was to be sent to the Daṇḍakāraṇya forest for fourteen years in the dress of an ascetic. Daśaratha fell to the ground as if struck by lightning. Bound by the unbreakable force of his word, the satya-pāśa (the noose of truth), he could not refuse. He wept and reproached Kaikeyī with bitter grief, and he saw plainly that this was his own ruin. He said: “When Rāma goes to the forest, I will die” (Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 6).

Rāma’s acceptance and departure

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa account

Rāma came the next morning expecting his crowning. He found his father collapsed in grief and Kaikeyī calm and hard-faced. Kaikeyī herself told Rāma of the varas and of his exile. Rāma answered at once, wholly and without disturbance. He accepted the exile without protest. He said that pitṛ-vākya-paripālana, keeping his father’s word, was his highest dharma, and that he would gladly go to the forest. He even tried to comfort Daśaratha.

As the time to leave came near, Daśaratha tried to tell Rāma that he spoke under pressure and that Rāma could take the kingdom by force if he wished. Rāma gently refused. When the chariot was brought, Daśaratha ran after it as it left, calling “Rāma! Rāma!”, and fell to the ground weeping. He could not bear to watch the chariot vanish, and he turned away. Kauśalyā held him up as he collapsed. Rāma’s departure left Daśaratha without his life-force (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 34–40).

The Agni Mahā Purāṇa account

When Rāma came before him, Daśaratha, though broken, could only say: “Rāma, I have been made a slave by Kaikeyī. I cannot speak the command myself. Do whatever she and dharma ask.” Rāma accepted the exile as dharma, without a word of blame for his father or Kaikeyī. He bowed to Daśaratha and Kaikeyī, comforted his mothers and gave away his belongings. Then he left on foot with Sītā and Lakshmaṇa. The charioteer Sumantra went with them, and the weeping people of Ayodhyā followed (Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 6).

The nights of grief

After Rāma’s chariot vanished toward the south, Daśaratha was like a man who has lost his sight. He lay on his couch, unable to sleep or eat, calling Rāma’s name in the dark. Sumantra returned from taking Rāma to the banks of the Gaṅgā. Daśaratha questioned him with desperate longing about every detail: how Rāma looked, what he said, where he slept and what Sītā ate. Sumantra described how Rāma had seen Ayodhyā as he left. The rivers ran warm, the horses wept and the birds were silent. He also told of the grief Rāma had shown in private, even while he kept calm in public. Before Kauśalyā and Sumantra, Daśaratha poured out his sorrow in a long lament and compared his grief to an ocean of śoka (sorrow) (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 57–60).

The śāpa of Śravaṇa Kumāra’s parents

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa account

In those dark nights Daśaratha remembered the karma that had brought this sorrow on him. He told Kauśalyā of a terrible deed of his youth. He had been hunting at night near a river. He heard the sound of a water vessel being filled, like an elephant drinking. With his skill of śabdabhedhi, the art of striking a target by sound alone, he shot an arrow toward the sound. He had hit not an elephant but a young brāhmaṇa named Śravaṇa Kumāra, who had been filling water for his blind, aged parents.

The dying Śravaṇa told Daśaratha, with great patience, where his parents were, and asked him to bring them water and the news. Daśaratha carried the terrible news to the blind couple. Burning with grief for their son, they laid a śāpa on Daśaratha. As they were dying of putraviyoga (separation from their son), so Daśaratha too would die grieving for his own son, calling his name and parted from him at the moment of death.

Daśaratha told Kauśalyā that this śāpa was now coming true in every detail (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 63–64).

The Agni Mahā Purāṇa account

In his youth, while practising archery at night on the banks of the Sarayū, Daśaratha mistook a sound for a wild animal and shot a young man named Yajñadatta, the son of a blind brāhmaṇa. Yajñadatta had been filling a water pot in the river. His blind parents laid a śāpa on Daśaratha: “As we die of grief for our son, so will you die lamenting for your son.” That same night, after Rāma left, Daśaratha remembered this karma, which had been ripening toward this moment (Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 6).

The death of Daśaratha

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa account

A few days after Rāma crossed the Gaṅgā, Daśaratha lay in Ayodhyā consumed by grief. In the silence of the night he called out the names of those he loved, “Rāma… Kauśalyā… Sumitrā…”, and his breath stopped. He died in the night in putraviyoga, and the śāpa was fulfilled to the letter. Ayodhyā was left without a king, the city mourned, and the throne of the Ikshvākus stood empty.

Bharata had been staying in Kekaya at his grandfather’s home. When messengers urged him, he returned to Ayodhyā. He found the city empty of joy and his father dead. He learned that Kaikeyī’s scheming had caused both Rāma’s exile and Daśaratha’s death. His grief was great and his anger at Kaikeyī was complete. He refused to be king. He declared that he would go to Rāma in the forest and give the throne back to its rightful heir (Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 64–75).

The Agni Mahā Purāṇa account

Daśaratha wept the name of Rāma. In his last hours he spoke of the śāpa to Kauśalyā. Then, calling “Rāma, Rāma”, the great king left the world. Those who came in the morning to wake him found that he had left his body in the night. Kauśalyā and all the women of the palace broke into lament. Vasishṭha and the other ṛshis quickly called Bharata from his maternal uncle’s home. Bharata performed his father’s funeral rites on the bank of the Sarayū (Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 6).

The ancient Rāmāyaṇa of an earlier kalpa

The Pātāla Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa records an ancient form of the Rāma narrative from an earlier kalpa. In it Daśaratha’s four wives are named Kauśalyā, Sumitrā, Surūpā and Suveśā. Suveśā is the wife whose demand sent Rāma into exile, the one who is Kaikeyī in the better-known account. In this ancient narrative the sons were born from a fiery image that rose from the Āhavanīya fire. Brahmā himself came down to perform the birth rites and to name each of the four sons.

This account also tells that, before his divine sons were born, Daśaratha had defeated a king named Sādhya in battle. Sādhya’s young son Bhūshaṇa bowed before Daśaratha and pleaded for his father’s life. Daśaratha was moved to pity, because the boy’s face looked very like that of his own beloved son who had died. Touched by this likeness, he spared Sādhya. In thanks, Sādhya taught Daśaratha the Ekādaśī vrata and the way of worshipping Bhagavān Vishṇu. These teachings became the base of devotion in the dynasty that later carried the avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 116).

Daśaratha and the planet Śani

The Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells how Daśaratha faced the planet Śani (Saturn) to save his kingdom and the earth from a terrible drought.

In this account Śani stood near the nakshatra Kṛttikā and was about to pierce Rohiṇī, that is, to pass through that nakshatra. The piercing of Rohiṇī by Śani was understood to bring a famine of twelve years. Crops would fail, no rain would fall, and people would die of hunger. Daśaratha learned of this alignment and what it would bring, and he decided to stop it.

The king rose into the sky in his divine chariot and flew to the celestial region where Śani stood. He attacked Śani with astras (divine missiles), raining weapons on the planet in a direct battle fought to protect Rohiṇī. Śani met the fierce and unexpected attack of the Solar-dynasty king. He was pleased by Daśaratha’s courage and resolve, for here was a mortal king ready to fight a planet for his people.

Śani gave Daśaratha two varas: first, that he would never pierce Rohiṇī, and second, that a twelve-year famine caused by Śani would never again fall on the earth. The Padma Mahā Purāṇa presents these varas, won from the planet by the king’s courage and care for his people, as one of the great deeds of his reign. He guarded not only his kingdom on earth but also the celestial conditions that bear on it (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 33).

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 1–65 (Chapter 4; Chapters 1–8, 9–12, 34–40, 57–60, 63–64; and Chapters 64–75 for Bharata’s return)
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 5–21 (Chapter 7, Chapter 16, Chapters 19–21 and Chapter 70)
• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 5–6
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 116
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 33
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Śrī Rāma Janana