The ritual for progeny was an elaborate one, in which the performer of the Vedic rituals had to perform many preliminary rituals for a period of one year in order to attain eligibility to perform the final one. Hence, King Dasharatha had undergone all such preludes in the span of a year before commencing the final ritual to be performed for progeny. The king then pleaded to his religious preceptor, Sage Vashishta, “Let my ritual be performed scripturally, let it be conducted in such a way that no obstacle occurs. You being my very reverent royal priest are friendly and kind-hearter to me, and you alone shall shoulder the burden of the commenced ritual in all good faith and credence.”
Thousands of men were involved in the ritual. There were construction supervisors, brick-makers, carpenters, earth-diggers, accountants, sculptors, actors, dancers, scholars in scriptures, and men who were well-read in Vedas. Thousands of bricks were brought and make-shift royal palace guesthouses were built for all the kingly guests, with many facilities included in them. A very large place was selected to build the homa kunda, an altar of fire, surrounding which huge sheds with chairs were constructed for thousands of spectators, onlookers and kingly guests to be seated and participate in the great ritual. More stables and sheds were built for housing the horses and elephants of the guests, as well as many small lodgings were arranged for the soldiers who travelled with the guests. Food had to be prepared and dutifully served to all the guests, scholars, priests, artists, and workers present for the ritual, and this had to be taken care of for the entire duration of the ritual. All these works were instructed by Sage Vashishta to the organisers of the ritual.
The Sage then called Sumantra and instructed him as such, “Let all those kings of the earth that are righteous be invited, and let all the people from all the kingdoms be invited in scores duly honouring them.” Kings who held very close bonds with Ayodhya, such as the King of Mithila, King of Kashi, King of Kekaya, King of Anga and the King of Magadha, were to be personally invited. All the distant kings from the Southern most parts were also invited. And when all the kings and their people started arriving to Ayodhya, King Dasharatha came forth towards the ritual hall according to the advice of both sages, Vashishta and Rishyasringa, on a good day while the ruling star of the day was favourable. When all have entered the ritual hall as per canons and custom, King Dasharatha along with his wives undertook vow of ritual.
The Aswamedha ritual took place for the first few days, led by Sage Vashishta and other eminent Brahmanas. Upon completion of the Aswamedha, the king was gladdened at heart for the successful achievement of that excellent ritual that removes sin and that leads to heaven as well, and that which cannot be undertaken by many of the best kings. Thereafter, King Dasharatha approached Sage Rishyasringa and beseeched him to perform the ritual for the expansion of his dynasty. Sage Rishyasringa agreed and said to King Dasharatha, “Oh king, there will be four sons to you that ennoble your dynasty.”
Under the aegis of Sage Rishyasringa, the putrakaameshti ritual aiming to beget progeny was commenced, offering oblations into the sacred fire with ritual acts meticulously contained in hymns. Then the deities, the celestial beings and other esteemed sages who were residents of the heavens, assembled in their cosmic zone above the fire altar to receive their part of the oblations.
Those deities who assembled there then spoke to Lord Brahma about the king of the Raakshasa clan, named Ravana, who was torturing all of them, all because Lord Brahma had blessed him with his boon of immortality. Though Ravana was a Brahman well-versed in all Vedas, talented in music and a great king of Lanka with unlimited riches, and though Ravana was blessed with boons by Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva, his ego and arrogance in conquering the Heavens won over him. Hence, he never hesitated to torture anyone who became his personal hurdle or hindrance. It became inevitable for the deities to beseech Lord Vishnu to incarnate Himself of earth to curb the evil and unrighteous Ravana.
A solution had to be found to defeat Ravana, whose torment was becoming increasingly unbearable by the celestials. While the deities were discussing, Lord Vishnu arrived there mounted on his Garuda, the Eagle vehicle, clad in yellow-ochre robes, holding conch-shell, disc and mace in three of his four hands. The expression that Vishnu has arrived on his Garuda, can be referenced to the eagle-shaped fire altar laid by Dasharatha’s priests for the ritual. Lord Vishnu’s arrival was also reference to the arrival of the sun mounted on black cloud to accord the gift of rain. On seeing Lord Vishnu, all the gods bowed down and offered their prayers, pleading him to incarnate as the sons of King Dasharatha, so that Ravana can be defeated. The kind-hearted Lord Vishnu then assured the gods saying, “Get rid off the fear, let safety be upon you, on eliminating that cruel and evil-minded Ravana, I will then reside in human world ruling this earth for thousands of years.” Then Lord Vishnu chose Dasharatha as his father in human world.
On taking a decision, Lord Vishnu took leave of Brahma Loka and vanished. Then, from the fire altar of the Putrakaameshti ritual, there emerged a greatly vigorous, resplendent and energetic Divine Being, called yajna purusha. That great ritual being personally brought a big golden vessel carrying it with both of his hands, a vessel that was filled with the divine dessert. The yajna purusha handed the golden vessel filled with dessert to the king and said, “Oh king, you may know me as the being sent by Prajapati, Lord Brahma. Take this dessert prepared by divinities, this is a blessed dessert that enriches progeny and health. Oh king, let this be consumed for which purpose you have performed this ritual that childbearing will be fructified in your wives by bearing sons, hence give this among your eligible wives.” On obtaining the dessert prepared yb the gods, King Dasharatha was highly gladdened like a pauper obtaining unforeseen wealth.
Then Dasharatha on entering the palace chambers sought for Kausalya saying, “Receive this dessert to beget your son.” The king then gave half of the dessert to the Queen Kausalya. He then gave half of the remaining half to Queen Sumitra. Then to Queen Kaikeyi, he gave half of the remaining half, meaning one eighth of the dessert. Then thinking for a while, gave the remaining one-eighth portion again to queen Sumitra. Thus, the king distributed the dessert to his wives differently. On getting the dessert all the Queens’ hearts were exuberant with happiness as they all became pregnant after some time had passed.
(To be continued…)