KING DASHRATHA’S YAGNA

As all the kings of his times, King Dashratha too had more than one wife. His eldest queen, Kaushalya was a righteous and virtuous lady whose face glowed with love and peace. His second queen, Sumitra was epitome of maternal love and calm and quiet personality. His third wife, Kaikeyee was a beautiful and intelligent woman. King Dashratha had only one grief that none of his wives had borne any child. So he decided to perform a yagna under the guidance of Sage Vashishtha. The gods were pleased by King Dashratha’s offerings and requested Lord Vishnu to be born as Dashratha’s son. Lord Vishnu agreed and at the same moment, a bright shining figure of divine image came out from the holy fire of the yagna. He was holding a golden bowl brimming with sweet kheer which he offered to Dashratha and said, “Take this Prasad and give it to your wives. They will beget virtuous sons for you.” 

King Dashratha bowed before the divine image with folded hands and then took the golden bowl of kheer. He hold it with great reverence and as lovingly as one handles a new born infant. Then with respect he bowed before Sage Vashishtha, the great learned guru and said, “O great sage, I seek your permission to leave this spot. Now that I have been blessed by the Gods, I want to give the parsed to my wives.”

The sage gave the permission and also blessed Dashratha and the three queens. King Dashratha then left for the palace with the golden bowl in his hands. He was veryhappy.