HINDU ENCYCLOPEDIA

सनातन धर्म भूमिका

Meaning of "Dasaratha"

Word

Dasaratha

Sanskrit

दशरथ

IAST

daśaratha

In General

A very powerful king of the Ikshvaku Vamsa (solar dynasty) and father of Sri Rama. He was son of Aja and Indumati. His name was Nemi and he was called Dasaratha for his exemplary skill in chariot fighting.

Once during a war with a daring Asura Samba who can be invisible and can be with many bodies he fought with 10 Samba in 10 chariots simultaneously and won the war. This daring act gave him the name Dasarathi, one who can control or defend 10 chariot simultaneously.

Genealogy. Descended from Visnu thus: Brahma - Marici - Kasyapa-Vivasvan - Vaivasvata Manu - Iksvaku - Vikuksi - Sasada- Kakutstha (Puranjaya) – Anenas –Prthulasva – Prasenajit – Yuvanasva – Mandhata –Purukutsa – Trasadasyu – Anaranya – Hryasva – Vasumanas - Sutanva – Traiyyaruna - Satyavrata (Trisanku)- Hariscandra - Rohitava - Harita – Cuncu - Sudeva - Bharuka - Bahuka - Sagara – Asamanjasa – Arhsiiman – Bhagiratha – Srutanabha - Sindhudvipa-Ayutayus - Rtuparna - Sarvakama - Sudas - Mitrasakha (Kalmasapada) - Asmaka - Mulaka - Kharvanga – Dilipa (Dirgha bahu)-Raghu-Aja-Dasaratha.

Purana

The curse: Once Dasaratha was walking through a forest engaged in hunting. He reached the bank of the river Sarayu. It was evening and the forest was thick. He walked in search of wild animals. The night was advancing and darkness getting thicker. Then he heard a sound from the river as if an elephant was drinking water. Thinking it to be an elephant Dasaratha sent an arrow in the direction from which the sound came. Instantly he heard a man crying with pain. He ran to the spot and saw a hermit boy lying in a pool of blood beating his limbs on the ground and and died in no time. The water pot he had been dipping in the water lay close by. King Dasaratha felt sorry for his action took water in the pot and went to the aged parents of the boy. The King, with tearful eyes told them what had happened. There was loud wailing and crying in the hermitage. According to their wish the King took them to where their son lay.Then the King made a fire and placed the dead body of the boy in it. The aged and blind parents cursed Dasaratha, "You also will die of loss of children". Then they also entered the fire and were burnt along with their son's dead body.

Kaikeyi given a boon: Once during the war between Devas and Asuras Dasaratha along with his wife Kaikeyi went to the world of the Devas to help them In a severe fight with Sambara, an asura, Dasaratha fell down unconscious. Kaikeyi took him away from the battle-field. When he recovered the King got into the chariot and fought more fiercely than before. This time the wheel-bolt of one of the wheels of the chariot of Dasaratha slipped away. Without informing her husband of this danger, Kaikeyi inserted her finger into the bolt-hole and prevented the wheel from sliding away. The King won the battle. After the battle, when the King came to know of the services rendered by Kaikeyi, he promised her two boons. Kaikeyi politely told the King that she don’t need anything for time being, but would ask for them later if required.

Administration of Dasaratha The capital of Dasaratha's kingdom was Ayodhya. Dasaratha. he had eight ministers, Srsti, Jayanta, Vijaya, Siddhartha, Rastravardhana, Ashoka, Dharmapala, and Sumantra

Birth of Sons Kausalya was the first wife of Dasaratha. She was the daughter of King of Uttara Kosala . A daughter named Santa was born to Dasaratha by Kausalya. After this, no sons or daughters were born to Dasaratha for a long time. So Dasaratha married Kaikeyi the daughter of the King of Kekeya. Still no children were born to them. He was much disappointed. At last he married again and brought Sumitra the princess of Kasi to palace. Dasaratha still remained childless. Then the King decided to perform the sacrifice of Putrakamesti (sacrifice for getting children) by the hermit Rishyasringa under the guidance of Vasistha . So Rishyasringa came to Ayodhya and the sacrifice of Putrakamesti was begun. Then a wonderful and luminous figure came out of the fire with a pot containing a pudding of ambrosia, and placed the pot before Rishyasringa and then disappeared in the sacrificial fire. Rishyasringa took the pot of pudding and gave it to Dasaratha with prayer and incantations. Dasaratha received the golden pot and divided the pudding between his first wife Kausalya and second wife Kaikeyi, both of whom gave half of their share to Sumitra. Thus the three wives ate the divine pudding and by and by all of them became pregnant. Kausalya and Kaikeyi gave birth to a son each and Sumitra gave birth to two sons. The son of Kausalya was called Rama, the son of Kaikeyi was named Bharata and the sons of Sumitra were called Lakshmana and Satrughna. When Dasaratha planned to incarnate Sri Rama as the yuvaraja, Kaikeyi intervened and demanded her Son to be incarnated as next king and sent Sri Rama on exile. Dasaratha could not refuse this demand as he had given two boon to her. Dasaratha felt very sad and cried aloud.

Death : Rama and Laksmana with Sita went to live in the forest. Sumantra who accompanied them up to the river Ganges, returned to the palace. By then Dasaratha had fallen down filled with grief. He had never recovered from that state of unconsciousness. At the time of his death Bharata and Satrughna had been away in the kingdom of Kekaya and Rama and Laksmana in the forest. Thus the curse he incurred in his younger days from the aged hermit, the father of Sravana, was fully realized.

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