Śatrughna

Śatrughna is the youngest of the four sons of King Daśaratha. His mother was Sumitrā. He is the fourth of the four divine brothers of Ayodhyā. The Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa says he is the aṃśa (part-form) of Aniruddha, the fourth vyūha (form) of Vāsudeva, and so an emanation of the cosmic will of Bhagavān Viṣṇu.

Bhagavān Rāma sent Śatrughna to kill the asura Lavaṇāsura, the son of Madhu, who was troubling the ṛṣis of Madhupurī. Śatrughna killed Lavaṇāsura at his doorway. Then he founded the sacred city of Mathurā at Madhu-vana on the Yamunā. Mathurā later became one of the seven mokṣa-purīs (cities of liberation) of India.

Aniruddha’s aṃśa

In Chapter 212 of the Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, the gandharva counsellor Nāḍāyana explains the divine nature of the four brothers to Śailūṣa. He says that Śatrughna is the aṃśa of Aniruddha, the fourth vyūha of Vāsudeva, the power of cosmic will that lets creation go forward according to the divine plan.

This places Śatrughna in the Pāñcarātra teaching of the four vyūhas. He is a divine principle in human form, the fourth form of Bhagavān Viṣṇu’s fourfold manifestation. The other three are Rāma (Vāsudeva), Bharata (Saṃkarṣaṇa) and Lakṣmaṇa (Pradyumna).

The mission against Lavaṇāsura in the Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa

The ṛṣi Cyavana came to Ayodhyā and asked Rāma for help against the asura Lavaṇāsura, who was troubling Madhupurī. Rāma gave this task to Śatrughna. He gave Śatrughna his own special arrow, the Rāmāstra, to kill the asura.

Lavaṇāsura owned an unbeatable śūla (trident), which Bhagavān Śiva had given to his father Madhu. While he held it, no being could defeat him. But each morning he left it inside his house when he went out to hunt. The chance to strike was at dawn, at his doorway, before he took up his weapon.

Śatrughna marched to Madhupurī and kept his army at a distance. He went ahead himself and waited at Lavaṇāsura’s doorway through the night. At dawn the asura came out unarmed for his morning hunt. Śatrughna loosed Rāma’s arrow and killed him on the spot. The devas showered flowers from the sky. This is told in the Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 242–247.

Founding of Mathurā

After the asura was destroyed, Śatrughna saw how holy the place was. It was Madhu-vana, the old forest on the bank of the Yamunā, where Madhu had once received the gift of Bhagavān Śiva and where Lavaṇāsura had ruled. The forest had the quality of a tīrtha (a holy place): ancient divine links, a beautiful setting and a sacred river.

Śatrughna laid out the plan of the city and founded Mathurā there. He made the land a city of dharma again, and freed it from the rule of the asura. Mathurā would become one of the seven mokṣa-purīs of India, and the birthplace of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa in a later age. This is told in the Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 247.

At Vālmīki’s āśrama, hearing Kuśa and Lava

After he founded Mathurā, Śatrughna went to the āśrama of the ṛṣi Vālmīki on the river Tamasā. There he found Rāma’s twin sons, Kuśa and Lava, singing the whole Rāmāyaṇa that Vālmīki had composed. Their command of the sacred account, their sweet voices and the devotion in their singing moved Śatrughna deeply. He knew them as Rāma’s sons.

He went back to Ayodhyā with this news, that Rāma’s own sons were keeping the Rāmāyaṇa alive in the forest, and told Rāma everything. This is told in the Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 247.

In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa

The Uttara Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Chapters 83–90, tells the mission against Lavaṇāsura and the years after it in more detail.

• The long wait. Śatrughna waited outside Madhurā for a full year, patient like a disciplined warrior, for the one moment when Lavaṇāsura would go out without his śūla. Each day he watched Lavaṇāsura’s habits from outside the city.
• Hearing Kuśa and Lava. On his journey south, Śatrughna spent the night at Vālmīki’s āśrama. He heard Kuśa and Lava singing the Rāmāyaṇa in the night. Apart from the people of the āśrama, he was the first of Rāma’s court to meet Rāma’s sons. He knew them by their likeness to Rāma. He left in the morning without disturbing Sītā, who was living in the āśrama.
• Twelve years of rule. After he founded Madhurā, Śatrughna ruled the city justly for twelve years. In this time Vālmīki visited with Kuśa and Lava, and the boys sang the Rāmāyaṇa before Śatrughna’s assembled court.
• Subāhu made king. Before going back to Ayodhyā, Śatrughna made his son Subāhu king of Madhurā. Then he returned to Ayodhyā.

In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa

The mission against Lavaṇāsura

In the Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Rāma gave Śatrughna the mission after the ṛṣis asked for relief from Lavaṇāsura’s terror. Vibhīṣaṇa gave the key information: the divine śūla, the weak moment when Lavaṇāsura left it behind at home, and the plan of waiting at his doorway at dawn. In this account Śatrughna also met and killed the asura Kaiṭabha in a further battle. Then he waited at dawn for Lavaṇāsura to come out unarmed, and killed him.

After the mission, Śatrughna founded Mathurā and set up his sons as kings. Subāhu became king of Mathurā-purī, and Yūpaketu became king of Vidīśā, which is also called Viśvapurī. This is told in the Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–10.

Defeat by Lava and Kuśa

During Rāma’s aśvamedha yajña (horse yajña), the sacrificial horse came into the forest near the āśrama of Vālmīki Maharṣi. The young muni-kumāras (ṛṣi boys) Lava and Kuśa caught the horse and took up the challenge written in the letter tied to it. Śatrughna was among the first commanders sent to free the horse. He came with an army that included his sons Subāhu and Yūpaketu. Battle began, and Lava and Kuśa used the Mohanāstra against him. This weapon was so powerful that Śatrughna and all his forces fell unconscious. He lay on the field until the shower of amṛta (the nectar of life) sent by the devas brought all the fallen back to life, at the time when father and sons met again. This is told in the Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–11.

Mahāprasthāna

When Rāma set out on his mahāprasthāna (great departure) to the Sarayū, Śatrughna walked at Rāma’s left side and Bharata at his right, and all of Ayodhyā followed behind. At the Sarayū, Śatrughna entered the holy river and took a shining padma-rūpa (lotus form). In that bright form he merged back into Bhagavān Rāma, his awareness joining completely with him. This is told in the Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa, Chapter 16.

Sources

• Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 212, 242–247
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 16–18, 73
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 83–90
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–11, 16