Putrakāmeshṭi: The Yajña for a Son

Putrakāmeshṭi, simply known as Putrakameshti, Sanskrit: पुत्रकामेष्टि, Telugu: పుత్రకామేష్టి, Hindi: पुत्रकामेष्टि.

A yajña is a Vedic fire offering. The Putrakāmeshṭi is a special yajña performed for one purpose: to obtain sons. The word joins putra (son) and kāmeshṭi (an offering made for a wished-for goal). It is performed by a man who wishes for children, with the clear saṅkalpa (formal intention) of obtaining them. It belongs to the Ishṭi group of offerings and needs a skilled ṛtvik (officiating priest). Its purpose, its method and the qualities needed in the ṛtvik are all directed toward the birth of children.

The most famous Putrakāmeshṭi in the Purāṇa literature is the one the great ṛshi Ṛśyaśṛṅga performed for King Daśaratha of Ayodhyā. From the yajña fire came the sacred pāyasa (also called pāyasam), a holy sweet milk food. Daśaratha shared it among his three queens, and from eating it, Bhagavān Rāma, Bharata, Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna were born.

Per Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa

In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, the Putrakāmeshṭi that Ṛśyaśṛṅga performed for King Daśaratha is the most famous example of this rite. From it, four portions of Bhagavān Vishṇu came into the world as Rāma, Bharata, Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna.

Nature of the rite

In the Bāla Kāṇḍa, the Putrakāmeshṭi is a second yajña performed after the main Aśvamedha (the great horse sacrifice) was complete. The Aśvamedha was a large royal rite for the general prosperity and glory of the kingdom. The Putrakāmeshṭi had a single aim: the birth of sons. The Bāla Kāṇḍa does not give the full technical details of how the Putrakāmeshṭi was carried out. What it does describe is its wonderful result: the appearance of the Yajña Purusha.

The Yajña Purusha

The most remarkable part of the Putrakāmeshṭi in the Bāla Kāṇḍa is the appearance of the Yajña Purusha, a divine being who came out of the sacred fire. He carried a golden vessel (pātra) filled with pāyasam, a sweet milk food made holy in the fire through the power of the mantras and the rite. The Yajña Purusha said to Daśaratha: “The devas are pleased. Take this divine pāyasam and give it to your worthy wives; from it you will have the sons you long for.”

Daśaratha shared the pāyasam among his three queens in these portions:

Half to Kausalyā, the senior queen
One quarter to Sumitrā
One eighth to Kaikeyī
The last eighth to Sumitrā again

From eating their portions, the three queens conceived. In time Kausalyā gave birth to Rāma, Kaikeyī to Bharata, and Sumitrā, who had two portions, to Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna.

Why Ṛśyaśṛṅga was needed

The Bāla Kāṇḍa stresses that only Ṛśyaśṛṅga could perform this Putrakāmeshṭi for Daśaratha. This was not because other qualified priests could not be found. It was because the purpose of this rite needed a ṛtvik of rare and unusual purity. Ṛśyaśṛṅga had been raised completely cut off from all worldly contact, and his purity was of a kind unknown among human beings. Only his virtue, built up through tapas (austerity), was equal to the great purpose the rite served: the coming of Bhagavān Vishṇu himself into the world.

Per Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa

The rite

Events went like this:

Daśaratha, still without sons after many years, asked his kula-guru (family guru) Vasishṭha for advice.
Vasishṭha called Ṛśyaśṛṅga, a ṛshi of rare purity and power, the son of Vibhāṇḍaka, whose very presence was said to make the rain fall.
Ṛśyaśṛṅga carried out the full Putrakāmeshṭi according to the set vidhi (method).
From the yajña fire came the divine answer.

Agni appears

Agni himself rose from the yajña fire and handed Daśaratha a vessel of sacred pāyasa, telling him to share it among his queens.

Daśaratha shared the pāyasa among his three queens in this way:

Half to Kausalyā
Of the other half, one part to Kaikeyī
The part left over was again split between Kausalyā and Kaikeyī, who each touched their share with both hands and gave it to Sumitrā

From eating their portions, the three queens conceived. In time Kausalyā gave birth to Rāmacandra, Kaikeyī to Bharata, and Sumitrā to Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna.

Per Agni Purāṇa