Bengali Ramayana - Dasharatha Weds

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Dasharatha, king of the Solar Dynasty was a great

king. He ruled over his subjects as if they were his

children. So great was he as a king that he was given the

title of RajChakravati. When he was 30 years old, a

wedding proposal came. Dandadhar, king of Kaushal, had a

daughter, Kaushalya. She was very beautiful. Dandadhar was

wondering as to who would an ideal husband for his daughter

when his priests told him about Dasharatha.

Dandadhar's messengers approached Dasharatha and told him

about the beautiful princess and the king's decision to

make Dasharatha his son-in-law. After thinking about

it, Dasharatha decided to marry. Giving control of

his kingdom to his kinsmen, he set off for Kaushal.

Amid great celebrations, Dasharatha married Kaushalya.

With many gifts from Dandadhar and with a beautiful

wife, Dasharatha returned to Ayodhya. Kakei, the king

of Giriraj had a beautiful daughter Kaikeyi. He sent

a brahmin as his messenger to Dasharatha. The

brahmin said "In Giriraj, where I stay, a swayamvar is to

be held. Many kings will be attending that. I beg

you to accept that invitation." Dasharatha, after

consulting with his priests accepted the brahmin's

invitation. Kaikeyi was so beautiful that her beauty seemed

to light up the swayamvar hall. She was more

beautiful than the apsaras Rambha, Urvashi or Tillottama.

Seeing Dasharatha in the hall, the other kings were a

bit scared. They remembered what had happened when

Aja had come to wed Indumati. They did want to die

over a princess. They all fled, leaving Kaikeyi for

Dasharatha. Kaikeyi wed Dasharatha. Kaikeyi had a maidservant

called Manthara, a hunchback. She accompanied Kaikeyi to

Ayodhya. Dasharatha lived happily with his wives. Sumitro,

the king of Sinhal, had a beautiful daughter,

Sumitra. He remembered Dasharatha. Hearing about Sumitra,

Dasharatha decided agreed to marry her. He was afraid of

what Kaushalya and Kaikeyi would think. So, telling

his wives he was going hunting, the king went to

Sinhal. He married her and brought her back to Ayodhya.

Kaushalya and Kaikeyi accepted Sumitra as their sister. So

beautiful was Sumitra, that the two queens were jealous of

her. Not having any children, the king married many

more times, but the three queens, Kaushalya, Kaikeyi

and Sumitra remained his favorite. The king liked

Kaikeyi of the three queens, and would spend most of his

time with her, but he was sad; he had no children.