King Dasaratha, the noble and
courageous descendant of the Surya dynasty, ruled over the kingdom of Kosala
from the King Dasharatha and Sravanacapital city of Ayodhya. He had three
queens: Kausalya, Sumitra, and Kaikeyi, Dasaratha was blessed with fame, glory,
peace, and prosperity. But he had one great sorrow; he did not have any
children.
One day, King Dasaratha went
hunting in the forest. He and his men roamed the forest when suddenly they
heard a gurgling sound in the distance. Thinking it to be a animal drinking
water, the king shot his arrow in that direction.
When Dasaratha came to the spot
he found a youth lying seriously wounded by the arrow. He was shravana Kumar,
the only son of an old and blind couple. He had come to fetch water to quench
the thirst of his parents resting in the forest. Shravana carried his old
parents on his shoulders, in a palanquin, where ever he went.
Even while dying, Shravana
could only think of his helpless parents. He held Dasaratha's hands and asked
him to take the pitcher of water to his parents. Unsuspectingly the old couple
drank the water, but an extremely sorrowful Dasaratha could not withhold the
truth. He told Shravana's parents how he had unknowingly killed their son.
Shocked by the news, the
grieving parents cursed Dasaratha with putrasoka, which meant that he would go
through the same agony of child loss.
Years later, this curse led to
the exile of Rama, and Dasaratha suffered the pain of separation from his
favourite son.
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