Putrakameshti, Divine Dessert, and Birth of Lord Rama (SIMPLIFIED AND FAITHFUL RENDERING OF THE ADI KAVYA-9) : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

 Putrakameshti, Divine Dessert, 

and Birth of Lord Rama

SIMPLIFIED AND FAITHFUL 

RENDERING OF THE ADI KAVYA-9

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Rishyasringa conveyed his decision that Dasharatha shall perform the Putrakameshti Ritual in accordance with Atharvaveda Hymns for children, and with his consent, commenced the Ritual on behalf of Dasharatha. Rishyasringa offered oblations into the sacred fire procedurally. The Divinities and the Celestial Beings assembled there to receive their part of the oblations. By then, already being perturbed at the atrocities of Ravana the Demon King, the Celestial Beings requested the Creator of the Universe, Lord Brahma, to plan for eliminating him. This scene reminds us how, even in divine narratives, collective concern for justice arises when evil surpasses limits, a message still vital today when societies unite against wrongdoing and imbalance.

Celestial Beings told Brahma that his blessings of boons to Ravana were the cause for his misdeeds, including torturing the three worlds, hating the functionary gods, and assailing Heaven King Lord Indra. The Sun God, Lord of Air, and Ocean God were also scared of Ravana, Brahma was told. They requested Brahma, keeping in view his capabilities, that he must come to their rescue. In response, assuring them of his support, Brahma told them that though Ravana besought the boon that he shall not be killed by anyone, out of disrespect he did not verbalize about humans and monkeys then, which information made them feel happy. It subtly conveys that arrogance blinds even the mightiest. Ravana’s disregard for the humble forms of life became the very cause of his downfall, a reminder that strength without humility leads to destruction.

Meanwhile, riding on his Eagle-vehicle Garuda, Lord Vishnu arrived there. All the divinities including Brahma requested Vishnu to maneuver to quadruple himself and take birth in the wombs of the three wives of Dasharatha, who have the resemblance with ‘Virtue, Affluence, and Glory,’ and on taking human birth, to kill Ravana. In response, Lord Vishnu assured them that he would not only kill Ravana with his sons, grandsons, ministers, forces, his friends, cousins, and relatives, but also that after that he shall be on earth for eleven thousand years. Hence, he asked them to get rid of their fear. The idea of the Infinite taking finite form reflects a profound truth that, divinity often manifests through human values of courage, righteousness, and compassion. The same spirit still inspires ordinary individuals to rise as instruments of good in difficult times.

Consequently, Vishnu thought about His birthplace in the mortal world in His mind, manifested Himself as four-fold, and then chose Dasharatha as his father. Meanwhile, when the Vedic Ritual Putrakameshti was in progress, an astonishing and delightful one for sight, ‘Prajapatya Purusha the Divine Being’ rose from the sacrificial fire, gave a golden vessel of divine sweet dessert to Dasharatha for distribution among his queens to beget progeny, and on eating it they would conceive their children. The divine dessert or ‘Payasam’ symbolizes the sweetness of faith, how sincere prayers, when performed with purity of intent, yield blessings not only for individuals but for generations to come.

Agreeing cheerfully, King Dasharatha had taken the golden vessel onto his head, revering the Prajapatya Purusha who was amidst the Altar of Ritual Fire, and performed circumambulations around him. The Divine Being, having completed his assignment, disappeared from there. Then Dasharatha, on entering the palace chambers, told Queen Kausalya to receive the dessert and gave her half of the dessert, and to Queen Sumitra half of the remaining half. To Kaikeyi he gave half of the remaining half. He gave the remnant portion to Queen Sumitra. Thus, the king distributed the dessert to his wives differently to beget sons. The sequence also underlines equality and divine design, though the portions differed, destiny ensured that each queen’s child played a unique and indispensable role in the grand narrative of dharma.

The three Queens, on consuming the dessert, quickly conceived pregnancies with the resplendence equaling Lord Fire and Lord Sun. Dasharatha, on hearing the good news, regained his lost heart for sons and became happy. When Vishnu attained the sonship of Dasharatha, then Brahma ordained Gods to be born on earth as Vishnu’s supporting army. He further said that he himself had already created the Bear Jambavanta from his yawning face. In a broader sense, this divine planning shows that every great mission requires both a guiding force and a supporting community, a timeless lesson about teamwork and purpose.

Accordingly, monkey-shaped progeny equaling Vishnu's Valor were to be procreated from the physiques of prominent gods, the Apsaras, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Pannagas, Kinnaras, Vidyadharas, etc., who shall be wizards of miracles and audacious ones. They shall have air speed, be bestowed with intellect, apprehenders of ideation, possess divine physique, ineliminable, endowed with attacking aspects of missiles, and untiring in their efforts. Gods agreed to Brahma’s order and started to parent sons in the semblance of monkeys. The creation of these Vanaras illustrates how even seemingly lesser beings can rise to heroic stature when driven by noble purpose, an encouragement to modern readers that greatness is measured by devotion, not form.

Indra procreated Vali, the Lord of Vanaras, who by his physique was like Mount Mahendra. The Sun God procreated Vali’s brother Sugreeva. The intelligent Tara by Brihaspati, Gandhamadana by Kubera, Nala by architect Vishvakarma, Neela by Fire God Agni, Mainda and Dvivida by the Ashwin Twin Gods, Susheshana by the Rain God Varuna, and Sharabha by Thunder God. Most importantly, Hanuman, with an indestructible body and equal to Garuda, the divine eagle vehicle of Vishnu in speed, was the son of Air God Vayudeva. Each of these births signifies a divine collaboration that, when various strengths unite under a righteous cause, impossible tasks become attainable, much like global teamwork in today’s world for the welfare of humanity.

Thus, millions of such noble-souled Vanaras (valorous monkeys) as the chiefs of warriors who could change their appearance at their wish, and with immeasurable strength and bravery, to eliminate Demon King Ravana, were procreated by different Gods. They became the prominent generals among the principal battalions of monkeys. They also procreated brave monkeys on their own. A few thousands of them stayed on the ridges of Mount Riskshavat, while others reached many other similar mountains and forests. All of the monkeys stood by the brothers Vali and Sugreeva, and with the monkey generals like Nala, Neela, Hanuma, etc. Vali protected bears, langurs, and monkeys. These Vanaras, though born of divine essence, represent the collective energy of nature itself, symbolizing how even the wild and untamed can serve divine order when guided by righteousness.

They, with their elephantine, mountainous, and prodigious bodies, took birth in bears and monkeys. Some of the Vanaras were endowed with superior valor. They were endowed with guise-changing faculties, with bodily might, and by their pride and might were identical to lions and tigers. All of them were the assaulters and attackers with stones, trees, their nails, and claws. They were capable of rocking greatest mountains, ripping firm-rooted trees, agitating the ocean with their speed, shattering the ground with their two feet, leaping, and crossing over great oceans, seizing the clouds entering the arch of heaven, catching strong elephants that tumultuously move in forests, and making sky-flying birds fall just with the sound of their blare. This vivid imagery not only glorifies their might but also teaches the power of disciplined strength, energy directed toward good becomes creative; left uncontrolled, it turns destructive, a truth equally relevant in our technological age.

Meanwhile, on the completion of the Great Horse Ritual, King Dasharatha entered Ayodhya along with the company of his queens, servants, guards, and vehicles. Rishyasringa, his wife Shanta, and his father-in-law Romapada left Ayodhya. Later, in the twelfth month, on the ninth day of Lunar Chaitra Masa, when it was Punarvasu (Constellation) Nakshatra of Navami Tithi, and when five of the nine planets; the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn were in ascension in their respective houses, and Aries, Capricornus, Cancer, Pisces, and Libra, Jupiter and the Moon were in conjunction, and the rising sign was Cancer, and when the day was advancing, Queen Kausalya gave birth to a son, the Lord of the worlds, who chose to take human form and sent down half of His essence as her son with all the divine attributes. The astrological precision noted by Valmiki also mirrors humanity’s age-old quest to find order and meaning in cosmic alignments, linking heaven’s rhythm to life’s milestones.

Queen Kaikeyi gave birth to a son, and Queen Sumitra gave birth to two sons who were the embodied epitomes of Vishnu. Kaikeyi’s son was born under Pisces, where Pushyami was the star of the day, and the sons of Sumitra were born under Cancer, where Aslesha was the star of the day and when the sun was rising. Kausalya’s son was born on the ninth day of Chaitra Masa. Kaikeyi’s son was born in the earlier part of the next day, the tenth of Chaitra. Sumitra’s sons were born later that day. The four sons thus represented the fullness of divine purpose, each born at a distinct moment, each destined to uphold different dimensions of dharma: strength, devotion, wisdom, and service.

After eleven days, the naming ceremony was performed. Chief Priest Vashishta named the high-souled elder one, Kausalya’s son, as Rama, Kaikeyi's son as Bharata, and one son of Sumitra as Lakshmana and the other as Shatrughna. King Dasharatha was highly gladdened with four of his highly fortunate sons. The princes were engrossed in the studies of Vedas. Gradually, Dasharatha contemplated the matrimonial alliances of his sons. The naming of the four princes marked not only the fulfillment of Dasharatha’s prayers but also the beginning of a legacy of values, courage, sacrifice, fraternity, and duty, that still illuminate Indian consciousness and can guide the world beyond boundaries of time and geography. {{PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY  ANONYMOUS RAMA BHAKTA}}