Kuśa

Kuśa is the elder of the twin sons of Bhagavān Rāma and Sītā. He was born in Vālmīki’s āśrama (hermitage) after Sītā was left in the forest. With his twin brother Lava he was raised by Vālmīki. They learned the whole Rāmāyaṇa and sang it with great beauty.

Their singing at Rāma’s Aśvamedha yajña (horse sacrifice) led to the recognition of the twins as Rāma’s sons and to Sītā’s bhūpraveśa (entry into the earth). After Rāma’s mahāprasthāna (final departure), Kuśa became king of Kuśāvatī and carried on the Ikshvāku solar line.

Birth

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa says that Kuśa and his twin Lava were born at Vālmīki’s āśrama near the river Tamasā, where Sītā had been left after she was sent away from Ayodhyā. Vālmīki performed the birth rites with full care and took the twin boys under his protection as his students. Kuśa was the elder twin. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 69)

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa says Kuśa was born in Vālmīki’s āśrama on the bank of the Gaṅgā, after Sītā, left by Rāma while she was with child, was given shelter by the ṛshi. At their birth the twins “illumined the ten quarters”. Vālmīki named them and performed all the saṃskāras (rites of passage) for them. “As the moon waxes in the bright half of the month, they grew there continuously.” (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 59)

Upbringing and education

In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Kuśa and Lava grew up in Vālmīki’s āśrama, among ṛshis, Vedic chanting and the discipline of āśrama life. Vālmīki himself trained them in the Vedas, the śāstras and dhanurveda (the science of archery). They looked like young ṛshis, in bark garments and matted hair.

Vālmīki composed the whole Rāmāyaṇa, twenty-four thousand ślokas, and taught all of it to Kuśa and Lava. He set it to music, with proper metres and tālas (rhythm patterns). The boys learned it perfectly. They sang it so beautifully that even hardened warriors wept. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 70)

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa says Vālmīki shaped every part of the education of Kuśa and Lava. He taught them:

• All four Vedas with their aṅgas
• All the Upanishads
• Āyurveda
• Archery and the science of weapons and missiles
• The lore of magic
• Music and singing

Vālmīki also gave them all the divine missiles (divyāstras) and blessed them, placing his hands on their heads. He then composed the holy Rāmāyaṇa and had them learn it and sing it. Their singing was so fine that it held even wild animals and birds spellbound. (Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 66)

Worship of Mahākāla at Ujjayinī

On the fourteenth day (caturdaśī) of the dark half of the month of Māgha, Kuśa went to Ujjayinī with great ṛshis to worship the deva Mahākāla. He did the worship with devotion and received many varas (boons) from Mahākāla. Then he went back to his mother’s āśrama. (Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 63)

The battle with Śatrughna

When Kuśa came back from Ujjayinī, he found his mother Sītā weeping. Śatrughna had captured Lava. Kuśa’s right arm throbbed, an omen of battle. He said to Sītā: “When I, your son, have stood by you, your affliction has gone. When I am alive, tears should not fall from your eyes.” He asked Sītā for divine armour, a bow, a helmet, a sword and a shield. He received her blessings and rushed to the battlefield.

Kuśa found the army already gathered. With Lava, now free, he threw the whole army into confusion. Kuśa drove the heroes toward the east and Lava drove them toward the west. Then Kuśa fought Śatrughna himself, a hero who knew all weapons. The fight was a storm of arrows: “Hundreds and thousands of arrows of Kuśa and the king pervaded the entire world.” Kuśa burnt Śatrughna’s missiles with divine counter-missiles. In the end he made Śatrughna unconscious on the golden battlefield. (Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 63)

Śatrughna asked Kuśa his name and family. Kuśa answered: “I know only that Sītā, devoted to her husband, gave me birth. We two live in the forest, devoted to worshipping the feet of Vālmīki. We are known as Kuśa and Lava.” (Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 63)

Recognition by Rāma and the word of Varuṇa

When Rāma came to the battlefield, he knew Kuśa and Lava as his own sons by their likeness to him. He went to Vālmīki, who confirmed that the twins were the sons born to Sītā in the forest after she was left there.

Vālmīki also gave the word of Varuṇa. Varuṇa had taken Kuśa and Lava to his realm to hear them sing. He was so charmed that he kept them there longer than planned. Finally he asked Vālmīki to tell Rāma that Sītā should be taken back. She is the mother of all worlds, who creates Brahmā, Śiva and all the devas.

Vālmīki said: “Formerly the ṛshis saw the world to be full of one Rāma. Now the entire world has become full of three Rāmas on account of your two sons.” (Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 66)

The singing of the Rāmāyaṇa

In the great assembly before Rāma, Kuśa and Lava sang the whole Rāmāyaṇa. They were skilled with the tabor, with other instruments and with lutes. Their singing was so beautiful that it charmed devas, asuras, gandharvas and all three worlds. Everyone praised the two princes. (Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 66)

The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa says that Kuśa and Lava came to Rāma’s Aśvamedha yajña at Ayodhyā. They entered the assembly and sang the Rāmāyaṇa for days, and the whole gathered world was held spellbound. Rāma listened, saw in their faces the likeness to himself, and in the end learned who they were.

The sons of the man whose story they sang, singing it before that man himself, make one of the most moving moments of the Uttara Kāṇḍa. It led to Sītā being called and to her bhūpraveśa. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 96–100)

Installation at Kuśāvatī

When Rāma decided on his mahāprasthāna, he arranged the succession of the kingdom with great care. Kuśa was made king of Kuśāvatī, a city in southern Kosala, in the region of the Vindhya mountains. His installation at Kuśāvatī kept the Ikshvāku solar line alive in southern Kosala. (Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 106)

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Janma Khaṇḍa

The Janma Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa has several details about Kuśa’s birth and childhood that are not in the Vālmīki or Padma accounts.

Birth and Rāma’s secret visit. Kuśa was born to Sītā in the usual way at Vālmīki’s āśrama. At the moment of his birth, Rāma rode the Pushpaka Vimāna in secret to the āśrama to see the newborn. He embraced the child in silence and was back in Ayodhyā before dawn. (Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4)

The different origin of Lava. The Janma Khaṇḍa says Kuśa and Lava did not share one birth. Kuśa was born from Sītā’s womb. Lava was made by Vālmīki from a blade of kuśa grass, using his tapas (austerity), when Sītā left Kuśa alone while she bathed. Rāma said this openly in the assembly: “I know that Kuśa is my own born son, and that Lava was created from kuśa grass by you out of compassion.” (Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapters 4, 8)

The Rāma Rakshā Kavaca. Vālmīki gave Kuśa the Śrī Rāma Rakshā Stava (a stotra of protection) as his divine armour (kavaca). Śiva had received this kavaca and given it to Viśvāmitra. Pārvatī used it to guard Skanda in the battle with Tārakāsura, and then it came to Vālmīki. (Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5)

The battle with Rāma. In the Janma Khaṇḍa, it is Kuśa, not Śatrughna, who fought Rāma in the great duel of astras (divine weapons). Six pairs of great astras were used. Kuśa met each of Rāma’s weapons with the exact counter-weapon. The fight ended with a sign. The arrows from Rāma’s bow fell at Kuśa’s head, in respect. The arrows from Kuśa’s bow fell at Rāma’s feet, in devotion. This showed the bond of father and son to all who were there. (Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

Vasishṭha reads 32 lakshaṇas. After Sītā came back to Ayodhyā and the Aśvamedha was complete, Vasishṭha examined Kuśa’s body. He found all thirty-two royal lakshaṇas, the auspicious marks of a great ruler. He said Kuśa was destined to be rājārāja (king of kings). (Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 9)

Upanayana in the fifth year. Kuśa’s upanayana (the sacred-thread rite) was done in his fifth year, which is the sixth year if counted from conception by the śāstric method. Vasishṭha gave the gāyatrī-upadeśa (teaching of the Gāyatrī mantra) in a great assembly of kings called from the seven dvīpas. Kuśa then finished his Vedic study. He made a five-month tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage) to all the holy places of Bhāratavarsha, and returned to Ayodhyā. (Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 9)

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vivāha Khaṇḍa

The Vivāha Khaṇḍa tells of Kuśa’s marriage and the foretold future of his line.

Campikā’s svayaṃvara. Bhūrikīrti Mahārāja, king of the eastern coastal realm of Vaṭapura, held a svayaṃvara (a bride’s choice of husband) for his granddaughter Campikā. Rāma went to Vaṭapura with the whole royal family, a journey of twenty days to the east. Kings from the seven dvīpas gathered. Nanda, called the dādi, presented the kings one by one: Matimanta, king of the Pāṇḍyas; Hemāṅgada, king of Kaliṅga; Yajñakīrti, king of Haridvāra; Śatrughna; Bharata; Lakshmaṇa; and others. Campikā politely turned each one down. When the procession came to Kuśa, Campikā put her māla (garland) on him. (Vivāha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 2)

The wedding. The wedding of Kuśa and Campikā took place at Vaṭapura with all the Vedic rites: pāṇigrahaṇa (taking the hand), lājāhoma (the offering of parched grain) and saptapadī (the seven steps). Vasishṭha led the rites. Bhūrikīrti gave Kuśa one lakh elephants, one lakh palanquins, five lakh horses and one lakh chariots. After the feast the couple went back to Ayodhyā, and Campikā joined the household of Rāma-rājya. (Vivāha Khaṇḍa, Chapters 3–4)

Vasishṭha’s prophecy. Vasishṭha said that Campikā would bear Kuśa nine daughters and no sons. The Sūryavaṃśa would go on through Kuśa by a later second marriage. After Rāma’s mahāprasthāna to Vaikuṇṭha, the nāgakanyā (nāga maiden) Kumudrā, sister of the nāga king Kumuda, would become Kuśa’s second wife. Through Kumudrā, Kuśa would have eight sons and one daughter. The eldest son, Atithi, would follow Kuśa as king and carry the Sūryavaṃśa forward. For this reason Kuśa was left out of the twelve nāga-gandharva weddings of Rāma’s other sons. (Vivāha Khaṇḍa, Chapters 4, 6, 9)

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Pūrṇa Khaṇḍa

Commander against the Somavaṃśa

In the last days of Rāma-rājya, Kuśa led Rāma’s forces against the great army of the Candra-vaṃśa (the lunar line), led by Nala. The vānara Susheṇa, guardian of Hastināpura, sent word that the city was under siege. Before the great march began, Rāma made Kuśa saptadvīpādhipati (lord of the seven dvīpas) of Ayodhyā.

In the six-month battle, Kuśa fought Nala himself, the greatest of the Somavaṃśa kings. Kuśa’s arrows struck Nala again and again. He then destroyed Nala’s chariot horses, chariot flag, umbrella and charioteer, one after another. After five months and eleven days of fighting, Kuśa made ready to loose the Brahmāstra, which would have wiped out the Somavaṃśa. Brahmā came down himself to plead with him. Kuśa answered bluntly: “If you have something to say, say it to my father Rāma. I act on his command.” He would not talk with Brahmā directly.

Sītā herself ended the fight. She said to Kuśa: “My son, abandon your anger. Listen to my words and return from battle.” Kuśa withdrew at once, and held his mother’s word above all a warrior’s pride. (Pūrṇa Khaṇḍa, Chapters 2–4)

The great gifts from Rāma

Before the Vaikuṇṭhārohaṇa (Rāma’s ascent to Vaikuṇṭha), Rāma gave Kuśa great gifts. They were his own Kodaṇḍa bow, which had been with Rāma through all of his avatāra; the Cintāmaṇi, the wish-granting gem from Rāma’s treasury; vehicles of every kind; Sāketa Nagara (Ayodhyā) as his royal seat; and rule over all kings. All the kings who were present promised to honour Kuśa in Rāma’s place. (Pūrṇa Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5)

Reign after Rāma’s departure

After Rāma’s Vaikuṇṭhārohaṇa, Ajāmīḍha went to Ayodhyā to tell Kuśa all that had happened. Kuśa then married Kumudvatī and had sons. The Solar line went on through his descendants down to Sumitra, the sixty-first king after Rāma. At that point the Sūryavaṃśa ended its course in the Kali Yuga. (Pūrṇa Khaṇḍa, Chapters 6–7)

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 69–70, 96–100, 106
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapters 59, 63, 66
• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapters 4–9
• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vivāha Khaṇḍa, Chapters 2–4, 6, 9
• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Pūrṇa Khaṇḍa, Chapters 2–7