Dasharatha (दशरथ:)

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Dasharatha (Sanskrit: दशरथ:, Daśarathah) was a descendant of the Raghuvansha-Ikshvaku-Suryavansha dynasty and the Maharaja of Ayodhya.

He was the son of Aja and Indumati. His three prominent queens were Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra. He had four sons - Rama , Bharatha, Lakshmana, Shatrughna.

Saintly King (raja-rsi)

When Dasharatha ruled Ayodhya, the great sage Visvamitra once came to him to take away Lord Ramacandra and Laksmana to the forest to kill a demon. When the saintly person Visvamitra came to the court of Maharaja Dasharatha, the King, in order to receive the saintly person, asked him, aihistam yat tat punar janma jayaya. He asked the sage whether everything was going on well in his endeavor to conquer the repetition of birth and death. The whole process of Vedic civilization is based on this point . Through the disciplic succession the royal order was on the same platform as great saintly persons (raja-rsis). Formerly they could understand the philosophy of life and knew how to train the citizens to come to the same standard. In other words, they knew how to deliver the citizens from the entanglement of birth and death.

Dasharatha's in-depth knowledge of the Vedas, expertise in military sciences, far-sightedness in administration, purity of mindset and kindness and empathy made his kingdom flawless.

Marriage

Dasharatha had 353 wives of which three were prominently known. Sri Rama had 350 step mothers besides Sumitra and Kaikeyi. त्रयः शत शत अर्धा हि ददर्श अवेक्ष्य मातरः || It is mentioned in Vishnu Purana that to be exempted to be killed by Parasurama, Dasharatha married many times. Parasurama had vowed to empty the earth of all Kshatriyas. But he would not kill a Kshatriya, who had marriage kangan on his wrist. This kangan, yellow band of thread was used to be worn for one year from the date of marriage. Whenever Dasharatha Maharaja heard the news that Parasurama is on his way, Vasistha muni would tell him to get married. It was essential for the king to survive for the society to survive.

Birth of four sons

Dasharatha gave in charity one of his daughters, by the name Santa, to his friend Romapada because Romapada was without issue. Romapada accepted Santa as his daughter, and the great sage Rishyasringa married her. When the demigods from the svarga loka failed to shower rain, Rishyasringa was appointed the priest for performing a sacrifice, after being brought from the forest by the allurement of prostitutes, who danced, staged theatrical performances accompanied by music, and embraced and worshiped him. After Rishyasringa came, the rain fell. Thereafter, Rishyasringa performed a son-giving sacrifice (putrakameshti yajna) on behalf of Dasharatha, who had no issue, and then Dasharatha had sons.

From Dasharatha's action, it is seen how one act of kindness reaps fruit, eventually. Dasharatha giving away his daughter to distressed Rompada was eventually the cause of Dashartha's joy.

Dasharatha's anxieties

Dasharatha Maharaja’s nature was to not reveal his painful secrets to anyone. His tendency was to suffer pain for oneself. This was due to his good character.

Promise to Ashvapathi

His anxiety was how to tell Ashvapati that his daughter's son, Bharata, cannot become king. Rama was elder, qualified and was loved by all the citizens. He was supposed to be the king. Also, Kaikayi did not know of the promise of Dasharatha to Ashvapati.

Sonic Archery

In the youth, Dasharatha used to venture out on hunting expeditions, where he loved using the powerful method of sonic archery (sabda vedi) as often as possible. He was in fact looking for one such opportunity when he heard a sound, much like the rumbling of a tiger or like an elephant drinking water from a river. He shot an arrow in that direction. Little did he realize that the sound was that of a pot being dunked into the river; an eager-to-serve son was filling water for his thirsty parents. The arrow had hit right its mark, which was followed by the agonizing scream of the boy, Shravan Kumar.

Curse of Shravan's parents

Shravan Kumar, in his last moments, told the king to fetch water for his parents as they were thirsty and inform them of what had happened. Dasharatha did not escape from there, but he faced the helpless and pained parents with responsibility. He suffered the very excruciating pain of guilt. Dasharatha first tried to feed the blind parents water however they were wondering why their son was so late. Dasharatha told them about their son's death. They said that because of the mere fact that the king did not run away, he was alive, if he had not come to them, his head would have been burst into hundreds of pieces. Although the parents were from some mixed caste, they were tapasvis. Dasharatha took them to their dead son. Due to intense pain they could not contain their life. Before dying they cursed Dasharatha to go through the same experience, of dying due to separation from his son.

Boon to Kaikeyi

Kaikeyi, the daughter of Ashvapati had served Dasharatha very pleasingly, and he therefore wanted to give her a benediction. Kaikeyi, however, said that she would ask for the benediction when it was necessary. At the time of the coronation of Prince Ramacandra, Kaikeyi requested her husband to enthrone her son Bharata and send Ramacandra to the forest. Dasharatha, being bound by his promise, although pained at heart, was subjected to order Ramacandra to go to the forest, according to the dictation of his beloved.