Dasaratha's Desire for a Child

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Dasaratha's Desire for a Child

 

[ Transcribed from lectures given by Atmatattva Das ]

 

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Ramacandra appeared in the Iksvaku dynasty. He is known as Iksvaku

Kuladhana. Kula means "dynasty" and dhana means "property" or "valuable

jewel." So he is the jewel of the Iksvaku dynasty. Dasaratha was known as

such because he could fight in ten directions simultaneously. Dasaratha was

such a great fighter that sometimes Indra would summon for him when there

was a fight with the demons. So Dasaratha would go to the heavenly planets

and fight with the demons. And these demons were so expert with maya, they

would create darkness, expand into various forms etc. So Dasaratha would

fight in ten directions, and when you looked at his ratha, his chariot, it

would look as though there were ten kings and ten chariots fighting

simultaneously. Dasa means "ten" and ratha means "chariot". That is how he

got the name Dasaratha. So Dasaratha was famous for fighting for demigods

and righteous kings. And he married Kausalya. From Kausalya, only one

daughter was born. She was named Shanti, or "peace." But Dasaratha had no

peace, because he only had one daughter, and that daughter would only get

married and go to another dynasty. The Vedic system is that when a woman

marries, she belongs to the husband's gotra or family line. So if Shanti

married to another dynasty, she would belong to it. What about the Iksvaku

dynasty? Dasaratha was so worried. Then he married Sumitra. At least

Kausalya had a daughter, but Sumitra had no child. Then Dasaratha was

getting old. He gave up the idea of producing dynasties. As he was getting

older he saw that some less powerful kings were doing small yajnas, so he

did big yajnas. They were trying to get their name known, because once

Dasaratha died Kosala would be broken. The kingdom of Kosala started all the

way from what they now call the Dalai lama's line. From up in the north, in

Tibet, all the way down to the river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. So this was

Kosala, practically it was the whole of India, not the democratic India but

the Vedic India. So he was very worried that this kingdom will be broken to

pieces and some small-timers will become emperors. Then Vasistha advised him

to go to Kaikeya. This kingdom was right on the border of Afghanistan. They

now call it the Sind region. Kaikeyi was the only daughter of the king of

Kaikeya. The king's name was also Kaikeya. And when Dasaratha came for

marriage negotiation, Kaikeya told him, "You have two queens, and they both

have no children. Now you will marry my daughter, but what will happen to

her if the other wives have children?" Dasaratha replied, "I don't think

they will have children because they have had none up to now. I am also

getting old. They're not going to get any child. Only Kaikeyi will get a

child." So Kaikeya said, "That's all right, but you must give this in

writing." There is a system in the ksatriya marriage known as kanya-sulka.

Sulka means "will". When you accept a virgin in marriage, you must give in

writing what properties she will enjoy as your wife if you are a ksatriya.

This is kanya-sulka, the "will of dowry." So Dasaratha wrote kanya-sulka. He

said, "Whoever is born to Kaikeyi will enjoy my kingdom, even if my other

wives produce children later." This kanya-sulka was known to three people.

Of course, now we all know it, but at that time only three people knew it.

Vasistha knew it, Dasaratha knew it, and Kaikeya knew it. It was kept a

secret, because otherwise they would blame Dasaratha, "What is this? He is

giving the kingdom to a younger woman." So this kanya-sulka was kept secret.

But at the time of the marriage, due to great attachment, Kaikeya told his

daughter this secret, that whoever is your son will rule this kingdom.

Kaikeyi kept this at heart. Once Vasistha advised Dasaratha to perform

asvamedha-yajna. He was telling him, "If you perform asvamedha-yajna, then

all the demigods will personally come to accept the oblations." There are

two kinds of offering oblations to the yajna. One is that Agni will take the

oblations and offer it to the different destinations. Another is that the

devas will personally come in the sacrificial arena. They will stand in the

sky holding their hands open, and when you offer in their name in the fire

then the harvest will get up from the fire and go into their hands. And they

will eat it right there in front of everyone,. These types of sacrifices are

considered first-class, because the devas have come in person. So Dasaratha

should perform asvamedha, and all the devas will come. And then Dasaratha

will tell them, "You have your kingdom only because of my fighting. So why

don't you continue my dynasty and give me blessings that I can get some

son?" That was the plan. There was a big arrangement for asvamedha-yajna,

and wherever Dasaratha's horse went, no-one objected. Asvamedha-yajna means

that you have to select a horse with certain lakshanas or qualities. The

ears have to be a certain way, the nose a certain way. There has to be a

black part behind the tail. The hooves have to be a certain shape, 35

degrees bent. There is a whole description in karma-khanda. So you have to

find out that horse, and after finding it you have to tie a golden leaf on

his head. There it will be written, "This horse belongs to King Dasaratha.

He will perform asvamedha-yajna, so everyone should donate liberally. And

whoever stops this horse will have to meet the army of King Dasaratha." So

this horse will go around the whole world, and if any king dares to stop the

horse there will be one army which is following about 100 metres behind the

horse. They will have to meet that army. This army would consist of the best

fighters in the army, all the generals, and if one can defeat that then more

army would be sent. In this way the challenger would have to fight and prove

that he is the emperor. So asvamedha-yajna was already started, and then

when the yajna was going on, Sumantra (the minister of Dasaratha) came to

Dasaratha and said, "I remember one incident when Sanat-kumara came to our

assembly, when you were a prince." At that time Dasaratha was not married,

and Sanat-kumara was visiting Dasaratha's father, Aja. Sanat-kumara made

some predictions. "Maharaja Dasaratha will become very famous throughout the

three worlds, and he will perform a putra-kamesti yajna, a sacrifice for

getting a son. So in this sacrifice, the yajna-purusha, the personification

of fire, will come there and give him some sweet rice. And out of this sweet

rice Dasaratha will get the Supreme Lord as his sons." This was predicted by

Sanat-kumara. At that time Dasaratha was just an unmarried prince, a

brahmacari. So Sumantra was a very old man and he suddenly remembered this.

He came to Dasaratha and said, "You are doing asvamedha for getting a son,

but Sanat-kumara told you that you should do putra-kamesti." So then there

was confusion over which yajna should be performed. In Treta-yuga everything

was yajna. For material benefits, for spiritual realization, for anything

tretayam yajato makhaih. Makha means "yajna". Now Dasaratha got confused. So

he went to Vasistha's house and prostrated himself before him. "Guru

maharaja, we have spent 60% of the treasury, and now we come to know that

this is not the proper yajna, that there is another yajna. How am I supposed

to do this?" So then Vasistha said, "Oh yes, I remember too now.

Sanat-kumara said this. It is not a very expensive yajna, but the purohit,

the priest who performs the yajna must be a very special person. That is the

difficulty. That person must have not seen a woman until the time of his

marriage. He should not have even known what a woman is. Such a great

personality must perform the yajna. Then only can the putra-kamesti be

performed with the purnahoti and we will get a son." Then Dasaratha said,

"You must tell me where this person is." Vasistha was a walking

encyclopedia, because he had been there three lifetimes with the same

remembrance. There is no-one in this world who knows better than Vasistha.

So Vasistha said, "Yes, there is a person like that." Dasaratha said, "Who

is this person? He has never seen a woman or known what a woman is until

marriage? At least he must have known about his mother! What kind of a

person is he, that he has never heard of a woman yet he has taken birth?"