Shanta’s Sacrifice – Her Untold Story
Prologue
Most people who have read the Ramayan know that Dashrath – the King of Ayodhya – had been advised to get the Putra Kameshthi Yagna (A Yagna performed for the sole purpose of begetting progeny) performed by Rishi Rishyasringa, who was famous for his innate chastity because he had been brought up by his father and had never set eyes on a woman during his formative years. However, Rishi Rishyasringa had to perform this Yagna after getting married to an equally chaste woman for the Yagna to be successful and produce the desired result.
As we all know, the Yagna was performed successfully and yielded two portions of the sacred offering, which the Sage gave to Dashrath’s eldest queen, Kaushalya, and his middle queen, Kaikeyi. Kaushalya and Kaikeyi shared half of their offering with Sumitra, the youngest queen, so that she could be a mother as well. In due course, Kaushalya gave birth to Ram, and her half of the offering that she had given to Sumitra, took birth as Lakshman. Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharat and her half of the offering was born as Shatrughan to Sumitra, who had given birth to twins. This explains the inseparable bonds that existed between Ram and Lakshman and between Bharat and Shatrughan.
Soon, the four princes completed their education and returned from Guru Vashistha’s Ashram to a rousing... welcome in Ayodhya. But Ram’s observant eyes detected a pall of gloom which seemed to envelop Kaushalya. Even when her lips were smiling, pain lurked in her eyes and the sensitive Ram could not bear to see his mother so unhappy and not know the reason why. So, one day, when a private conducive moment presented itself, he very gently asked his mother the reason behind her misery. Queen Kaushalya, tired of bearing the grief all by herself, broke down when she heard the kindness in Ram’s voice and this poem captures the conversation between Kaushalya and Ram as she unburdens her secrets to Ram – the secret of Shanta – her and Dashrath’s first born – and the mystery behind Rishi Rishyasringa’s marriage, the sage who performed the Putra Kameshthi Yagna and the hidden facts surrounding the birth of Ram and his brothers.
Poem
Kaushalya to Ram
My first-born Shanta was beautiful, wise and in the battlefield, second to none,
But none of her accomplishments mattered to her father, he wanted a son!
Would the glorious Ishkvaku dynasty die with him, he worried to his bone,
He could not die in peace, without giving a future king to Ayodhya’s throne!
If only Rishyasringa and his wife could perform the Yagna to beget us a son,
But getting the chaste Rishyasringa to marry was easier said than done!
Your father sent many pretty maidens and his worry grew with every failure,
And then, Shanta resolved, she would return only after succeeding in her endeavour!
She went, she saw, and conquered the heart of Rishyasringa who gladly married her,
The yagna was performed and the birth of four princes assured Ayodhya’s future!
She lives in an austere hut now atop a hill and with guilt my heart is torn,
She who could have been a queen, gave up everything so you could be born!
And it follows
Even centuries later, a daughter will make every sacrifice, bear every pain,
Just so that she can bring a smile on her unhappy father’s face again!