King Dasaratha

 

King Dasharatha had three queens as per the custom

prevailing those days. The eldest queen Kaushalya

was a religious minded.good natured and kind woman.

The second queen Sumitra was simple and

peace loving . The third queen Kaikeyee was

very beautiful and intelligent

King Dasharatha loved all of them equally. Though he had

everything, he was not happy because he had no son. To beget a

son, King Dasharatha organised a yajna under the guidance of

Guru Vashishtha. Pleased with the yajna, Lord Vishnu

appeared. The king begged him for a son saying, "Kindly take

birth as my son."Lord Vishnu agreed to answer his prayer.

At that moment, a divine being came out of the altar of the yajna

with a pot of kheer cooked in sweetened milk. He offered it to

the king and said, “Give this kheer to all the three queens. Soon

they will be blessed with sons. Your house will be filled with the

cries of new born babies."

The king took the pot of kheer from

the divine being and bowed to

thank him. Now, the king was very happy. 

He was sure of the birth of children

in the palace. So he asked GuruVashishtha to

permit him to distribute the kheer among the queens.

 Guru Vashishtha said,

“Yes, King Dasharatha, go ahead. May god bless you."

Then the king went to his palace. He divided the kheer into three

equal shares. First he went to the eldest queen Kaushalya and

said, "This kheer is offering of the god. Kindly take it."

Kaushalya took the kheer and ate it.

Then he went to Sumitra and gave her share of the kheer to her.

Sumitra ate the kheer with great love.

Thereafter, the king went to the youngest queen Kaikeyee and

gave her share of kheer. Kaikeyee ate most of the part of her

share of kheer but left a little. So, the king went to Sumitra and

gave the rest of the share to her. Sumitra ate it again.

This way all the queens ate the kheer and awaited good news.

ver since the queens became pregnant, King Dasharatha took

reat care of them. He appointed a number of attendants and

ervants to look after them. The king, the queens as well as the

People of Ayodhya were waiting for the birth of the princes very

nxiously. Besides them, the gods, the sages and hermits were

AIso waiting for the birth of Lord Vishnu on the earth. In fact,

verybody was eager to see the incarnation of Lord Vishnu on

Earth! the long wait came to an end. On the ninth day of the

nonth of Chaitra, Lord Vishnu incarnated as the son of

Caushalya. As Sumitra took the kheer twice she gave birth to

wo princes and Kaikeyee gave birth to one.

The incarnation of Lord Vishnu on Earth made the gods very

appy. Now the sages and hermits were feeling secure. The

King, queens and the people of Ayodhya, all were very happy.